


A Trail of Youth

by Alpha_Writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce and Tony Endgame, Bruce has an awesome lab assistant, Bucky is so done with the future, Civil War does not happen, De-Aged Bruce, Eventual Bruce Banner/ Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, Jealous Tony Stark, Ladies love Bruce, Loki Is Good, Mild Language, Multi, Oblivious Bruce Banner, Oblivious Tony Stark, Steve Is a Good Bro, Swearing, The boys are jealous of Bruce and slightly attracted to him, Tony Being Tony, Tony Feels, everybody loves bruce, scienceboyfriends, slowbuild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-11-04 16:45:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10994907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alpha_Writer/pseuds/Alpha_Writer
Summary: Tony has always known Bruce was handsome, in the way you think your college professor is handsome. He sees Bruce everyday, in the lab, in the tower, after a mission and he knows Bruce is just Bruce - perpetually rumpled, clad in button downs and khakis, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The grey strands that run through his chocolate curls remind Tony that Bruce has been through so much. The wrinkles around his eyes shows a man who has seen great hardship but can still find something in this world to laugh about.But when a mission goes ten ways to hell and Bruce gets get caught in the chemical explosion will Tony fianlly see Bruce in a different light. Will it take Bruce getting the attention he deserves from other sources for Tony to finally confront the feeling he's been having for his best friend/ lap partner.Or, the one where Bruce gets turned into to a twenty- something year old version of hismelf and everybody gets smitten, especially Tony who migght be something more.P.S Jarvis knows what's up before everyone else





	1. Bang!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking some liberites when writing these characters so they may seem OOC. You've been warned.

“Stark report.” Steve shouts into the comm over the battle going on outside.

“Little busy here Cap,” comes the rushed reply as Iron Man aims his shoulder missiles at the oncoming guards.

“How’s Banner doing?”

Tony looks back at Bruce huddled in the corner of the corridor working on disarming the locks for the lab door. He’s surprisingly calm for someone working in an environment where people are trying to shoot you with really big guns but then again guns can’t really hurt Bruce and Tony has to fight back a shudder at the reminder of how he found out that little tidbit about his best friend. “How we doing there Brucey!” Tony calls out as he blasts another two guards who just rounded the corner.

“Almost there. Just one… more… second. We’re in!”

“Great!” Tony doesn’t waste any more time. He scoops Bruce up before the other man can stand up properly and flies them through the door. He deposits Bruce at the computer terminal before flanking him to secure the door. A few key strokes later and Bruce shuts the door on the faces of the approaching guards. The sound of bullets vibrating off the metal door echoes in the room.

“Cap we’re in.” Tony reports.

Bruce is already typing away at the computer terminal, scanning through the streams of data pouring across the screen. Tony takes a moment to scan the lab. It isn’t as nice as the one he and Bruce share back home but it’s still pretty impressive. There are various chemical and machinery running analyses spread out through the room. It’s apparent that the scientist working there were in a hurry to get out.

“Great get the info and get back to base Stark.” Steve orders.

“Why Steven… if I didn’t know better I would think you have no faith in me and Brucey Bear.” Tony can hear Bruce scoff from behind and he has to grin madly at the situation.

“I don’t think it’s Bruce he has the issue with Stark.”

“Why Hawkass I forgot you were on this channel.” the falsetto voice Tony uses gets him a choir of exasperated sighs over the comms, even Bruce has to shake his head at his friend’s antics.

“Get your ass back to helping Banner.” Natasha orders.

Tony still answers with a mock salute before disengaging from the suit even though she can’t see it. He tells Jarvis to put it on sentry mode before saddling up next to Bruce. The physicist gives Tony a skeptical look as he approaches. “You sure you wanna be out of the suit Tony?”

“Aww Brucey, always worrying about me. I’m flattered.”

“I don’t think that was what he meant Stark.” Bucky replies for Bruce.

“Shut it Barnes!”

In the background Bruce cover his chuckling with a hand over his mouth. The comms remain silent after that. The sounds of the battle above still manage to penetrate the walls all the way down in the lab and Bruce and Tony work furiously to gather the data that Hydra was compiling.

“Gotta give it to these guys. They encrypted the hell out of these files.” Bruce comments drily while typing away furiously at the key board.

“They’re alright but they aren’t Tony Stark.” Tony replies. He turns to look at Bruce and Tony can’t help the wide grin that spreads over his face. This, this is what he loves above all else, getting to work with Bruce on a mission. Not the Hulk but the actual Dr. Bruce Banner, physicists extraordinaire. The witty banter Bruce would sling back and forth with him, the dry sense of humor the other man possessed. Tony loved it all.

It had been a long road to get Bruce to this place but Tony couldn’t have been happier. At first no one would have ever considered putting Bruce on the field in his normal tan hue. Fury argued that the man had no training what so ever. Natasha added that he didn’t have any kind of combat skills, even Bruce said it was a bad idea but Tony knew better.

This was the man who had evaded the US military for more than three years no matter how much credit SHEILD wants to take for that. Bruce was much more skilled that they gave him credit for. Tony could see it now as they hacked Hydra’s computer system. Bruce was calm and in total control, his fingering literally dancing across the key board as fast as Tony’s.

Tony felt a sense of pride bloom in his chest at that. He and Bruce had spent hours in the lab pouring over code when they burned themselves out on their other projects. Bruce had asked him to teach him to hack a computer. He said that it would be a useful skill if he ever had to run again. Tony had felt an unidentifiable pang in his chest when Bruce mentioned leaving again but he pushed it down as he did with everything he didn’t want to deal with and instead focus on teaching his best friend the fastest way to break into a secure network using only a cell phone.

Over the months staying with Tony at Avengers Tower Bruce had picked up the skill pretty quickly, eventually becoming almost as good as Tony. Some might call it Tony’s ego talking when he bragged about how fast he taught Bruce to hack but in reality it was all Bruce. The man had a brain like a sponge, absorbing all the knowledge being thrown at it with an uncanny determination. It sometimes left Tony in awe that he finally had someone on his level and dare he say it, above his level.

“Sir the door’s integrity is slowly diminishing.” came the sound of Jarvis’s voice from the speakers in the suit, “I would suggest you and Dr. Banner get the required information and proceed to the safe point.”

“Got it J.”

Tony and Bruce wasted no more time, sending file after file to the server that Jarvis had set up. They were about three quarters of the way through when a large explosion rocked the room sending both men to the ground. Immediately Tony looks to Bruce. “You good bud?”

“Yea,” Bruce replies coughing a bit due to his impact with the ground, “No code green here.”

“Stark! Dr. Banner!” Steve’s voice sounds strained over the comm as if he’s out of breath, “Status report! Are you all alright?”

“Just peachy!” Tony shouts as he helps Bruce up.

“You need to get out there now! They detonated a bomb or something on the upper level! The place is coming down above your heads!”

“We’ll be out soon.” replies Tony.

“No you need to get out now!”

“Tony we should listen to Steve.” Bruce adds.

“The data schematics are almost done!” Tony pleads, “Two more minutes tops!”

Bruce looks extremely hesitant to agree but if it’s one thing he has it is utmost faith in Tony. “Two minutes!” he shouts over the sound of sirens blaring in the room. Tony wastes no more time, he gets back to the terminal and continues hacking through the last fire wall.

There is this horrendous creaking noise coming from the ceiling and dust pour down on them. Bruce eyes the ceiling uneasily. He doesn’t need to be an engineer like Tony to know that the ceiling isn’t going to be able to hold the several tonnes of concrete and steel that’s baring down on it. Cracks are already forming in the plaster and the walls on all sides of the lab are being to bulge under the weight.

“Tony…” Bruce warns.

Tony holds up a hand indicating he just needs one more minute. Bruce rushes up to the engineer grabbing his hand and tries pulling him towards the suit. Tony makes a valiant attempt to resist the tugging but it becomes apparent that Bruce is employing some of the Hulk’s strength.

“Damn it I can do it Bruce!” seethes Tony.

The ceiling makes sickening groan and a piece of plaster at the end of the room comes crashing down. Pieces of machinery go up in flames and the smell of chemical burning begins to permeate the air. The crack in the wall begins to lengthen.

Bruce doesn’t waste any more time. His grip on Tony’s arm tightens and he hauls the other man towards the suit.

However, they don’t move fast enough. The chemical in the room come into contact with the blaze and the room explodes.

The last thing Tony remember is seeing Bruce hurtling his body toward him and hearing Steve’s voice scream over the comms before everything goes completely black.


	2. Infirmary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wakes up to find that Bruce is still unconscious and that Shield can't do anything for his best friend. The team feels the absecnce of their mild doctor dearly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still using fantasy science but I'm tryign to make things as realistic as possible.  
> Phil lives in this one and Shield survives.  
> Bucky and Sam are Avngers.  
> Clint and Laura are the unoffcial team parents.

Tony wakes up in increments, slowly coming back to consciousness. His body feels like a lead weight, heavy and immobile. He groans out and tries to turn on his side but his body makes a loud protest. When he finally manages go open his eyes it's to the intense white light of the Shield hospital room. Tony has to immediately close his eyes to protect them from the blaring light.

"Easy there Tony." Steve's voice comes across.

Tony makes a vague gesture at the ceiling hoping Steve gets his message. Luckily the Captain understands the hand signal and lowers the lights in the room to a level bearable to Tony's eyes. Tony opens them and takes in the room he's in and he feels the nausea sent in. He hates hospital rooms. In fact he hates hospitals in general just as all the other Avengers surely do. The sterile scent and clinical feel practically gives him hives on his skin. He looks around and sees Steve sitting in the only available chair in the room. He has a pensive look on his face that Tony doesn’t want to decipher.

“What’s the damage Spangles?” Tony tries for humor to lighten the mood and fortunately it works as Steve cracks a weary smile. It doesn’t quiet meet his eyes but it’s a start and Tony will accept that.  
“A couple of bruised ribs and maybe a mild concussion but the medics think that the concussion was there way before today.”

Tony is actually surprised that Steve manages to make a joke, things might not be as bad as he initially though they were. Tony takes another perusal of the room and something strikes him. Bruce is usually the one waiting for him when he is injured and has to get medical attention. Most of the times it’s Bruce doing the administering since he is the only person Tony trust to take care of him – well Bruce and Pepper, and maybe Jarvis if he had a body.

Suddenly it all comes rushing back everything that happened before he blacked out. Steve sees when the realization dawns on Tony but he chooses to remain silent and let Tony figure things out on his own. At first he was mad that Tony had chosen to ignore his orders but he should have known that Tony never listened. He had hoped the presence of Bruce in the room with him would spur him to actually listen to orders but that had been a futile hope. After the building had come crashing down all Steve could think about was Bruce and Tony’s safety. His anger had disappeared and been replace with deep concern when the comms had gone dead, just like the other member of the team, all who were subtly trying to hide their worry.

“Steve,” Tony whispered. The only recollection he had was of Bruce shouting his name and lunging towards him before everything went black. Bruce’s face in those few seconds before the explosion caused the ceiling to cave in was the only thing he could see. To make things worse, Bruce’s face was distraught and Tony could tell it was not for Bruce’s own wellbeing but for his own. Bruce had been concerned for Tony’s life.

“Steve,” whispered Tony again, “where’s Bruce?”

Steve didn’t answer immediately. He considered how to answer Tony’s question in a way that wouldn’t send the man into a manic fit. Steve knew Tony could be impulsive and right now that wasn’t best thing that could happen.

“He’s alive.” Steve said and knew that that wasn’t the right thing to say when he saw the look on Tony’s face.

“What does that mean Rogers?!” Tony exclaimed. He tried to project a calm if not slightly agitated demeanor but the heart monitor attached to him gave away the pounding of his heart. If he didn’t know better he would say the arc reactor was malfunctioning.

Steve sighed and wished that one of the other Avengers was here to help him out.

“Listen Tony I need you to not freak out on me okay?” Tony’s eyes widened and the heart monitor began beeping frantically. Steve really wished the super soldier serum gave him the ability to not put his foot in his mouth.

“What the fuck Rogers! What does that mean?!” Tony exclaimed as he sat up in the bed. He tried to remove the IV from his arm but his bruised ribs protested at the sudden movement causing him to painfully yanking the needle in his flesh. “I need to see Bruce!”

However, Steve was already up and holding Tony down so he couldn’t injure himself more. Using his superior strength Steve managed to get Tony’s hands pinned down beside him but the other man continued to trash about. Steve began to get worried that Tony was about to scream bloody murder if he didn’t let him up to see Bruce. He knew that the two geniuses were close but he did not expect this kind of reaction from the billionaire. The man was absolutely frantic. He kept trying to get out of Steve’s grasp but he was not fully healed and lacked the strength to do so. The Captain could see that Tony was fading. Hopefully he would be sedated enough for Steve to let go. Still not taking any chances Steve was able to press the button on the side of the bed to signal the nurses.

“Tony, Tony, listen to me,” Steve hoped he could distract the man while the nurses came in, “Bruce wouldn’t want you exerting yourself like this. Please calm down.”

That seems calm him down a bit but Tony still looks mutinous. Steve hopes he can keep the billionaire’s focus on him while the nurse adds the sedative to his IV. It’s a good thing that Tony sometimes has a one track mind. He glares at Steve and demands, “Where is Bruce?!”

Steve knows the only way to keep Tony’s attention on him is to feed him a little information. He needs to at least sooth his burning curiosity. “He’s in the infirmary Tony.”

Tony eyes widen and Steve can understand the sentiment. Bruce, with the Hulk lurking under his skin, does not injure easily. So it came as a shock to the entire team that he did not regain consciousness when he transformed from the Hulk back to Bruce Banner. For some it put into perspective that Bruce was not as invincible as they liked to think. Clint had been almost hysterical while trying to revive the doctor before they could get both him and Tony back to the quinjet.

“He’s being looked after,” Steve adds since he knows Tony won’t be satisfied with so little information. Tony opens his mouth to ask another question but Steve beats him to it, already knowing what the other man wants to ask, “Natasha and Phil are with him.”

They all know Bruce is weary about his blood getting into the wrong hands so there is an unspoken pact amongst them for someone to always be present while Bruce is in the infirmary.  
The information seems to mollify Tony. His eyes begin to droop and Steve knows that the sedative is working. Somehow Tony still manages to catch sight of the nurse leaving and shoots him a betrayed look before finally succumbing to the effects of the drugs in his system.

 

* * *

 

When Tony wakes up again there’s no one in the room with him. He feels hurt for about a nanosecond before his mind goes to more important places, or more specifically, a more important person. His ribs don’t feel as sore anymore so he risks sitting up and is rewarded with no pain. However, before he can celebrate his small victory he can see a nurse looking at him. She has a phone in her hand and is no doubt calling the doctor.

Tony knows he can make a break for it. Probably run out the room and down the hall before the doctor even arrives but for once he stays still. He knows he is better and there is no reason for the medics to keep him here any longer. So once the doctor comes and sees him, he will sign the release forms and Tony can go find his best friend.

To his utter surprise it isn’t a doctor that enters his room but rather Phil Coulson.

“Agent.” Tony greets.

“Tony how are you feeling?” Phil asks.

“Just peachy.” he replies, “So are you here to bust me out of the hen house?”

That brings a slight uptick at the corners of Phil’s mouth. The guy is way too serious sometimes. “Actually I am. You need to be at the debriefing.”

The smile that was spreading across Tony’s face immediately turns into a frown. He doesn’t need to be debriefed he needs to go find Bruce. Why can’t these people ever be on the same wavelength at him? Bruce is always on the same wavelength at him. Tony tells Coulson just as much.

Phil sighs like he usually does when dealing with the Avengers. The only person who gets more annoyed with them is Maria and Tony thanks the stars that they didn’t send her to get him because she’s an action speak louder than words kind of girl.

“Listen Tony,” Phil explains, “the debrief is about Bruce’s condition.”

“What condition?!”

“Well you’ll hear about it in the debrief.” counters Phil. He takes the clip board at the foot of Tony’s bed and signs the discharge forms and then gives Tony a pointed look. Tony resists the urge to roll his eyes at the suit clad man. He gets out of the bed and slips on the Shield issue slippers provided. Tony makes a face at the slippers but there’s not much he can do about it now. He follows Phil out the room and out the medical wing. As soon as he’s out Tony feels better. No matter what, he does not like being in a hospital.

They make the short walk to one of the conference rooms on the helicarrier. In the room the other Avengers are already there and waiting. Tony does not know how long he was out for but it was apparently a decent amount of time because the others look fairly rested. They’ve all managed to change out of there tact gear and are sporting civilian clothes. The only ones in uniform are Phil and Maria who was currently at the head of the table reading something off of her tablet.

Clint and Natasha are seated at the back of the room close to the exits. Thor is next to them. He had a worried look on his face when Phil and Tony first arrived but seeing the engineer, some of his worries leave him – just some. Barnes and Rogers are on the opposite side of the spy duo. Steve is still wearing the clothes Tony saw him in earlier and Barnes as usual is covered in black. Both men have solemn looks on their faces. Barnes keeps sneaking passing glances at Maria and if the situation weren’t what it was Tony would have probably called him out on it.

The only one missing is Sam so Tony assumes he’s where ever Bruce is keeping watch.

Tony takes a seat next to Thor. The bigger man rest a large hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezes it gently or as gently as Thor can manage. “I am glad to see you are well friend Stark.”  
Tony offers him a half-hearted smile.

Phil takes his place next to Maria and they both have a silent conversation between themselves. The others wait patiently for any information on their fallen comrade. Surprisingly it’s Clint who breaks the silence in the room.

“So are you guys going to tell us what happened to Bruce?”

Maria looks to Phil first and he takes that as his queue to start things up.

“Okay I need you guys to listen to me. I know you all want to hear about Bruce but we need to get through the normal debrief first and then we can talk about him.”

There is up roar all around the room. Even Steve thinks this is absurd. Bruce is their team mate and friend. They deserve to know what’s going on with him first. But Phil and Maria seem adamant if not a little apologetic that this is how they have to do things.

“Please,” Phil begs, “Just let us get through this and then we will answer all your Bruce related question. Five minutes tops, that’s all we’re asking for.”

There are still grumbles coming from the group but they agree to listen to what Phil and Maria have to say. They know the longer they argue with them the longer it will take to find out about Bruce.

Tony tries to make himself comfortable but knows that until he can confirm his friend’s wellbeing he isn’t going to be very accommodating.

“So we will try to keep this as short as possible,” Maria begins, “Six casualties, all were confirmed Hydra operatives, no fatalities in the team.”

The all know that Maria adds that in to give them some reassurance about Bruce’s condition. Tony is grateful that both she and Phil understand how the team is feeling just then. The debriefing continues with Maria outlining the property damage the mission caused. Basically the entire building housing Hydra’s operation came down in the explosion. There wasn’t much that could be saved, but since it was the operatives themselves who set off the blasts, Shield claims no responsibility.

Maria takes her seats after going through some more of the post mission data. Phil picks up where she left off explaining what they got form the data Tony and Bruce managed to get. Tony feels the guilt well up inside of him when he thinks about his action back at the base. It’s because of his stubbornness and ego that Bruce is in the infirmary right now. The fact that the Shield can make use of the data they collected does not sooth his conscious whatsoever.

“It seems that the base was used by Hydra for specimen testing.” Phil explains, “They were do heavy research into cell regeneration and manipulation. We think they were trying to isolate the regenerative gene present in some of the mutants we see these days.”

“Did they succeed?” Bucky asks.

“Not that we know of.” Maria offers, “Most of their work so far was strictly theoretical. The few test subject they had were shipped off when we launched the siege. Any data they had stored on them was erased from the system.”

“That explains all the chemical we saw in the lab.” offers Tony. He spins his chair around to face his team mates. “They had a whole lot of machinery specifically designed for human testing too.”

“Well we’re looking into where the scientist fled so we’ll keep you updated on that.” Maria adds.

“So is it over? Do we get to hear about Bruce now?” shockingly enough it’s Clint who asks the questions that burning on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Maria and Phil share a look and seem to come to the mutual decision that the debriefing is over.

It’s Phil who steps forward to do the honors. Immediately Steve and Tony open their mouth to ask questions however, Phil outs a hand up to stop them before they can speak.

“Here the thing. I’m going to tell you everything the medics told me about Bruce and only after I’m finished can you ask questions. No interruptions while I’m talking.”  
Phil gives Tony a pointed look at this. Tony doesn’t appear too offended at the implication. He’s honestly just satisfied that he’s finally going to know what happened to Bruce.

“Wait what happened after the comms went out?” Phil shoots Tony an annoyed look. Tony raises his hand in a placating manner. “I just wanna know how I got out.”

“Bruce or well the Hulk saved you.” Natasha informs Tony. “We think that just before the explosion Bruce transformed and the Hulk managed to cover your body with his own. After things settled down the Hulk dug the two of you out of the debris. It looked like he took the brunt of the blast from the scarring on his back and sides. After putting you down he turned back into Bruce but he wasn’t conscious. Clint tried to resuscitate him be was out cold.”

“I never been so scared in my life.” Clint mutter at Natasha’s side.

Tony is silent for a moment. He does not know what to say. This is the second time Bruce has saved his life, not to mention the countless other times the man has probably pulled Tony out of a sketchy situation. Tony feels his guilt increase tenfold. He puts his heads in his hands and clutches at his hair roughly. “This is all my fault!” he mutters.

“Don’t do that to yourself.”

Everyone in the room turns to look at Bucky but he’s staring at his metal arm blankly. “You feeling sorry for yourself and wallowing in guilt isn’t going to help Bruce so stop that train of thought immediately.”

Tony straightens up. He might not be fully forgiving himself but he knows what Barnes is getting at. He knows Bruce wouldn’t wanting him sitting letting the guilt eat away at his insides. Bruce would say that Tony would have done the same thing had the positions been reversed. Still Tony can’t help but feel entirely responsible for everything but for now he locks away his guilt and leaves it to be examined another day.

“Even though he was unconscious his vital were stable enough when you all brought him in.” Maria says.

“He’s still unconscious but we don’t think he’s in any immediate danger.” Phil adds, “He’s being monitored but we think that the explosion got some of the chemicals in the lab into his system. But we haven’t had chance to do a toxicology report yet.”

“You know how Bruce feels about people taking his blood.” Steve remarks.

“We know, that’s why it hasn’t been taken yet.” continues Phil, “As it stand the doctors think he may wake up on his own. His vitals are slowly returning to normal. We just don’t know what will be the effects of the chemicals when he wakes up.”

“His irradiated blood might take care of that but we don’t know for sure.” Maris picks up where Coulson left off. “He managed to regain consciousness for about five minutes but we weren’t able to do much with that.”

“So what are we to do now?” questions Thor, “Must we simply sit and wait for friend Banner to awaken?”

“For the time being yes.” Phil knows that this won’t sit well with the team but there was nothing he nor Maria or even the doctors could do to fix the situation.

“What about Avs?” Tony asks. His voice is hoarse when he speaks. He can’t comprehend the fact that they don’t know when Bruce will wake up, if he will wake up at all.

“We’ve taken care of that.” Phil says.

“Who is Avs?” Clint asks but does not get a reply in return.

“Tony, Bruce left you as his emergency contact if anything were to go wrong. With your permission we’ll let the doctors take a sample of blood and see what we can do from there.”

Tony looks at Maria and Phil with glazed eyes. He is not crying but it is getting real close to that territory. “Give it one more day then we’ll do that.”

Maria makes note of this and the room falls into a silence.

“I need to go see him. He needs someone there if he wakes up.” Tony says abruptly. He gets up and makes his way to the door but Phil calls him back.

“You can’t he’s in quarantine. The most you can do is look in from the window.”

“That’s fine with me,” continues Tony as he leaves the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce wakes up in the next chapter and the team is in for a few surprises.  
> We'll find out who Avs is later.  
> Comments and Kudos are much appreciated.  
> P.S - I'm still looking for a beta reader. So message me if you're interested.


	3. It Starts with the Nurses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce finally wakes up and the the teams have to deal with the changes he's gone through physically. Tony isn't taking it too well while Natasha may be enjoying it more that appropriate.

Tony finds Sam sitting on an uncomfortable looking plastic chair outside Bruce’s room. He gets up when he sees Tony’s approaching and offers the other man what little information he can.

“The doctors came about half an hour ago. Took his vitals and did the routine checkup but nothing’s really changed.”

Tony claps Sam on the shoulder gripping his bicep with the other hand. “Thanks for staying with him man. I’ll take over from here.”

“He would do it for any of us.” Sam replies quietly. He pats Tony the shoulder before he makes his way down the hall.

Tony moves over to the window that allows him to look into the room. The window is directly across from the hospital bed. He sees Bruce’s form in the bed. Tony has to suck in a breath when he sees his lab bro lying on the bed. Bruce’s usual tan skin is pale and flushed. There are dark circles around his eyes. The medics put him in one of those gaudy hospital gowns that provide nothing in terms of coverage or warmth. The thin blanket is pulled up high around Bruce’s chest. There are wires running from his body to machines clustered around the bed monitoring things like his heart rate and blood pressure. There were even electrodes attached to Bruce’s temples tracking his brain activity.

Tony was suitably satisfied with the level of care Bruce was being afforded. Still looking at his best friend’s prone form Tony felt the urge to go in there and wrap him up in his arms. The guilt was being to rear its ugly head again and Tony was having a hard time pushing it down again like Barnes had said. When he looked at the bed again, Toy found it hard to imagine that this was the man that contained the Hulk. Bruce looked so small and fragile. His body barely took up ay space on the bed at all.

With the knowledge that he could do nothing more, Tony took the seat Sam had vacated. He rests his head against the wall and stares blankly at the ceiling. The events right before his world went black in the lab were playing on repeat in mind’s eye.

Eventually and much to Tony’s absolute disgust, he falls asleep. The pain killers in his system were still at work and Tony had no way of resisting their affects. The position would undoubtedly leave him with a crick in his neck and sore muscles when he woke up.

Consciousness came back to him when Phil rouses him from his horrible angle on the chair. Tony woke up groggy and half aware of his surrounds which was never a good thing for him since his panic would set in. Luckily Happy was there on standby to remind he was safe. He places a hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezes it gently, “You’re good boss.” Happy knew that Tony hated when people used a patronizing tone with him, even worse was pitying tone, so Happy always remained formal and distance knowing Tony appreciated it.

“Tony I think you need to go home.” Phil offers quietly. Tony made a noise in the back of his throat that was meant to be taken as a protest but Phil was having one of it. “You’re no good to him if you’re asleep.”

“Then I’ll stay awake.” Tony had woken up enough to be defiant but Phil was resolute.

“No you won’t. Those opiates are not out of your system yet.”

Even in his ruffled state Tony manages to glare at Phil and Happy but he had to concede. He was no use to Bruce while asleep no matter how much he wanted to be there for the other man. “Fine, Happy let’s go.”

Happy and Phil were surprised that Tony didn’t put up more of a fight but they were wise enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Happy let Tony led the way out of the medical wing following a couple of step behind him to make sure he didn’t falter. Phil took Tony’s spot on the chair and settles in comfortably to start his vigil.

When Tony and Happy arrive back at the tower Happy leaves him at the elevator. He is sure that Tony is able enough to get to his room without any mishaps. Once in the elevator Tony leans up against the back wall and let’s Jarvis take care of the rest. Before the elevator reaches the penthouse Toy says, “Stop it at Bruce’s floor J.”

“Of course Sir.” Jarvis replies smoothly.

Jarvis unlocks the door for Tony and the other man proceeds to Bruce’s room. They both barely sleep, always in the lab working on the next great invention but often enough when they’ve reached the brink of complete black out they’ll collapse in the closest bed available. And that happen to be Bruce’s. Tony can’t stand the thought of sleeping in his massive bed alone right now. Sometimes the sheer size of the room intimidates him.

He curls up on Bruce’s side of the bed and hugs the pillow to his chest inhaling the scent deeply. They may not sleep often but the bed always smells like Bruce – a heady mix of aftershave and something earthy. Unlike Tony who always smells like grease and expensive cologne, Bruce has a clean natural scent to him that Tony appreciates. Surprisingly, sleep comes to Tony easily in Bruce’s bed. Jarvis turns of the light and promises to inform Tony if there are any developments on Bruce’s condition.

* * *

 

Tony doesn’t know how long he slept but it is light outside when Jarvis wakes him up.

“Sir, Agent Coulson has called and informs me that Dr. Banner has awoken.”

Tony is up and out of the bed before Jarvis can end the sentence properly. He grabs a pair of shoes from the closet thankful that he and Bruce are roughly the same size and that he insisted to outfit Bruce’s closet.

“J call Happy.” Tony calls out as he hops on one foot trying to get the shoes on. He gets them both on and rushes out the room. He pauses in the living when he sees his reflection in the mirror. There are dark circles under his eyes and he looks groggy. Tony decides that he can take a minute to at least wash his face since it will take some time for Happy to arrive. He rushes back in to the en-suite and splashes some water on his face removing the sleep from his eyes. He runs a hand through his hair and brushes it back.

“Sir Mr Hogan is waiting with the car in the garage.”

Satisfied that he looks mildly presentable Tony goes to the elevator. On the way down he instructs Jarvis, “J make sure the Bruce’s room is ready for when he’s back. Have Pep order those weird teas he likes to drink and get some to go and get the chicken soup from the dinner ‘round the corner.”

“Certainly sir.”

“You’re the best J.”

“I aim to please.”

Tony smiles at the sass evident in Jarvis’ voice. It’s the first time he’s smiled in the last 48 hours but he feels absolutely giddy now that Bruce is awake. He can go collect his science bro and bring him back to the tower where he and Jarvis and Pepper can make sure that Bruce is fully recovered. Tony knows that Bruce hates hospitals just as much as he does. He worries that someone will take his blood without his permission.

Happy already has the car ready and waiting by the time the elevator doors open in the garage. Tony hopes in and tell Happy to step on it. He gets dropped off at SHEILDS air base where Natasha, Bucky, Sam and Steve are already waiting by a quinjet.

“Thor and Clint?” Tony says by way of greeting. He knows they’re all concerned with Bruce’s wellbeing so Clint and Thor must be suitable occupied not to be here.

“Thor had to go get Jane and Darcy from the airport.” Steve explains as they all make their way up the ramp, “They flew in from Brussels last night when they heard Bruce was down.”

This was not unexpected news for Tony. Jane and Bruce got along like long lost friends ever since Thor introduced them. And Darcy was a spit fire; it was hard not to like her. Sometimes Tony envied the instant camaraderie between the two physicists but in the end he was just grateful Bruce had another science friend even if she stole some of his time with Bruce.

“Clint had to call Laura and the kids to tell them Bruce was awake. Clint will meet up with Thor and the ladies and come up after.” Natasha says after Steve.

“How did the baby birds take it?” Tony asks. Ever since Clint introduced his family to the rest of the Avenger his daughter Lila had taken a shining to Bruce. The little girl had literally taken one look at him and decided that he was hers. She was keeping his because he was soft and nice and sweet and smart and had nice curls and liked purple and a lot of other nice adjectives that had Bruce blushing and stammering out for days every time he saw the little girl. The other thought it was pretty weird at first but didn’t question it. Lila obviously saw something in Bruce that she liked and as Laura pointed out – there were worse option for a role model for the little girl.

“She cried for an entire hour,” stated Natasha, “then made Clint promise to call as soon Bruce woke up.” Tony manages a snort even though he knows that those kids have them all wrapped around their little fingers. “Oh we borrowed your jet.” Natasha adds as an afterthought.

Tony would be more upset if this wasn’t literally the fourth time they did. He guesses that it’s better not to argue because it isn’t as if the jet is doing anything sitting in the hanger.

The pilot tells them to take their seats since they’re ready for take-off. The ride to the helicarrier is relatively quiet. They all received the same vague text from Phil saying that Bruce was awake but no other details. Once they arrive Tony is confused when they’re ushered into another dull conference room. Phil is already waiting for them. However, Tony is having none of it.

“Why are we here Agent? Where is Bruce?” he steam rolls. For once the others don’t chastise him for his brutish manner.

“He’s okay.” Phil placates, “He’s resting right now. Maria’s with him.”

“Then I don’t understand why we’re still here!”

“Tony,” Phil tries placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder, “There’s something I need to tell you all before you go see him.” In the back ground Steve and the others immediately tense up. Sentences like that never bode well in situations like these. Sensing the anxiety in the room Phil is quick to clarify, “It isn’t what you all are thinking.”

“What are we thinking?” challenges Bucky.

“That something is irreparable wrong with Bruce.”

Sam huffs, “That’s just one if the things we’re thinking.”

“Listen,” Phil tries again, “Just hear me out and then you all can go see Bruce.”

The rest of the team all share a look and they make a silent agreement to hear Phil. They all know he wouldn’t purposely keep them away from Bruce so it must be serious. Tony takes the seats closest to the door so that when all this is over he can get out of there as quickly as possible. Phil takes his position at the head of the table and actually looks a bit nervous.

No. Tony wouldn’t say he looked nervous. It was more like a tired and exasperated look.

What the hell was going on?

“So last night,” Phil said as he paced back and forth at the front of the room, “Bruce had a seizure.”

“What!!!” Tony exclaimed jumping up from his seat, “And no one called me or thought to inform any of us?”

“Tony please let me finish.” Tony sat back down and crosses his hands over his chest looking every bit as much the over child as he acted. “He had a minor seizure but his vitals remained the same. The doctors have never seen anything like it. They believe it was the chemicals from the lab interacting with his radiated blood.”

“So what exactly does that mean for Bruce?” Natasha voices what everyone was thinking.

“He ah…” Phil stammers, “He’s had some physical changes that we can’t explain.”

“Physical?” Steve asked, all too aware of how experimentation could affect the body, “What do you mean by physical?”

“It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s best if I just show you.” Phil picks up the tablet form the table and tap on the screen. Immediately the monitor mounted on the wall behind him power up. It’s a direct fed from Bruce’s room. Maria is sitting in the chair beside him bed. They probably finally deemed the room safe for other to be there with Bruce.

It’s Natasha who spots the difference first.

“He looks younger.” she breathes out as if she doesn’t believe what her eyes are seeing.

The others all take a closer and can definitely see it now that Natasha had pointed it out. Bruce has gotten back his tan colour and his skin looks healthier. They are no grey streaks in hair and even his curls look fuller. The usual bags under his eyes are all but gone and the laugh lines are all smoothed out.

Tony feels his breath hitch. Bruce looks so young. He looks like the world hasn’t turned on him yet.

“How is this possible?” Bucky asks breaking the silence in the rooms.

“We think it has something to do with the chemical in his system. Since they dealt with cell regeneration we’re guessing they somehow caused Dr. Banner’s cell to de-age.”

For once Tony is rendered speechless. He can’t tear his eyes away from the screen. The Bruce on the screen looks like his Bruce but different somehow. It’s unnerving for some reason.

“He doesn’t know what’s happened to his body.” Phil says after a while, “He just thinks he’s in medical after the explosion. As far as he’s aware everything is exactly the same.”

“So no memory loss to go with the de-aging?” Sam asks.

Phil shakes his head indicating the negative. “We’ve had nurses checking on him all morning. They all seem very eager to be of assistance.”

Natasha snorts, “I bet.” Tony whips around to stare at her and raises one eye brow in silent question. Natasha gestures back to the screen, “I mean look at him. They probably had a fight to see who gets to give his bubble bath.”

“Bruce?” ask Sam in an incredulous tone, “Nah man.” He takes another look at the screen and his expression changes a bit. “Okay maybe.” he concedes and Natasha looks triumphant.

Tony still hasn’t managed to unstick his tongue from the top of his mouth. As far as injuries go get turned into a younger, sexier version of yourself is not exactly a bad thing.

“Is it permanent?” Steve always finds a way to keep things on track.

“We don’t know.”

Just then there is movement on the screen. Bruce appears to be waking up. Maria gets up and places a hand on his shoulder but before she can do much more than smile at him two nurses are in the room taking her place at his bed side. They crowd around Bruce and Maria is left to stand awkwardly in the back ground. Although Bruce seems strong enough to sit up on his own one of the nurses puts one of her arms around his waist while the other is on her chest. The other nurse is right up close to Bruce’s face asking him something. Their over attentiveness goes on for a few minutes while Bruce tries to reassure them that he’s fine just a little tired.

Finally Maria gets the nurse to leave the room and Bruce gives her a tired but grateful smile that she returns. He apparently doesn’t understand the sudden attention the nurses are bestowing upon him.

“He keeps blacking out at uneven intervals but we think it’s safe for him to be removed from medical.” Phil says once the action on screen dies down.

“What about the Hulk?” Tony finally asks.

“As far as we know, the Hulk is still there.”

Tony doesn’t wait anymore. He gets up and leaves the room making his way to Bruce’s room. If anyone has to tell Bruce about what has happened to it should be him. Tony is the reason Bruce is in this situation in the first place.

As a walks down the corridors there are nurse giggling and whispering amongst themselves. Some are not even being discrete, pointing out Bruce’s room to their colleagues. Tony feels a surge of irritation course through his system but pushes it down. He reaches Bruce’s room and pauses outside the door. He can hear Maria and Bruce talking inside. Tony takes a moment to center himself before he opens the door and sees his best friend face to face.

He put his hand on the handle and slowly opens the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't post up a new chapter last week. I was very busy and didn't get a chance. I'm planning to upload another chapter soon after this one to compensate for my toss up.  
> As you all can see I'm still clearly using fantasy science to explain Bruce's deaging. My science isn't as sounf as I would like.  
> Tell who you want to see with Bruce in the next chapter in the comments. I'm open to requests.  
> Comment and Kudos.


	4. Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony tells Bruce what's happened.

Tony really doesn’t know what he expects when he enters the room but somehow he expected to see Bruce looking just as he always does. But standing in front the other man, he can’t deny it now. Bruce looks so much younger. No longer world weary. He smiles when he sees Tony by the door and Tony swears his heart stutters in his chest.

Bruce looks radiant.

Maria clears her throat and Tony realises that he is staring. He moves further into the room. He goes to Bruce’s bed side and grabs the other man’s hands. Even his hands feel younger. The callouses that are normally on his hands are gone and the skin feels smooth in his palm.

“How are you feeling buddy?” Tony asks hoping his voice does not sounds as unconfident as he feels. He manages to hide his emotion well since Bruce just shrugs and plays it off as nothing. “They treating you well in this place?”

“I would say the service is above par.” Bruce jokes. Tony can see Maria roll her eyes in the background and can’t help but share her sentiment. “How’s the team?”

“They are good.” Tony replies, fondly exasperated with Bruce’s ability to be in a hospital bed and still worry about the welfare of everyone but himself, “You had us worried there for a bit Big Guy. Natasha almost showed emotion.” Bruce chuckles at the joke and it actually sounds deeper. Tony feels a swooping motion in his chest again but squashes it. “I think you will be getting a little visitor soon.”

Bruce grimaces, “Lila?” Tony nods and Bruce frowns. “Clint shouldn’t have worried them unnecessarily.”

“Bruce you were out for close to 48 hours.” Maria chimes in when she sees where Bruce’s train of thought is going. Tony has never been more grateful for her assistance before. He can’t count the number of times he has had to remind Bruce of his self-worth. Somehow hearing it from someone other than Tony works to reaffirm Bruce’s opinion in himself. The poor guy has the worst sense of self ever, more self - depreciating than anyone Tony has ever met. “I think that was a decent cause to worry,” and Tony nods right along with Marias words.

“It was probably just an extra-long post Hulk-out nap.”

Bruce always tries to play off situations like these. He can’t bear the idea that he was a burden to the team when that’s the very last thing any of them think of him. But his insistence of the circumstance of his prolonged comatose state brings the whole issue back full circle. They still have to explain to Bruce what exactly has happened to him due to the explosion. Maria and Tony share a look and Maria gets that Tony wants to be the one to tell Bruce what has happened to him. She gives him a subtle nod and walks to the end of Bruce’s bed and stops to look at him.

“I got to get back to the bridge Bruce but the nurse will be there if you call.”

“I’ll bet they will.” Tony says to himself hoping that Bruce doesn’t hear. Unfortunately Tony keeps forgetting that Bruce is much more perceptive than people give him credit for. Bruce gives Tony a quizzical look and Maria has to resist the urge to roll her eyes at Tony’s mannerisms.

“See you Maria.” Bruce replies when he gives up trying to decipher what Tony meant by his pervious statement. Maria gives Tony one last parting look before exiting the room. He could tell from her expression that he was meant to be tactful with informing Bruce about his current predicament. The thing was Tony didn’t really do gentle or tactful - Pepper and Happy could attest to that. But for once in his life he tries to ease his way into the conversation.

“So since when are you and Hill on a first name basis?” Tony wags his eyebrows in an exaggerated fashion nudging Bruce’s shoulder with his own. “I don’t think Barnes would like that.”

Bruce snorts. “Maria and I share the burden of being the sane ones in this rag tag team of super heroes.”

“Do you now?”

“Yes,” Bruce replies smugly, “And she likes the same kind of tea as me.”

“Huh, I thought she only drank the blood of new recruits.” Tony says and Bruce gives his a disapproving look. Bruce knows that Tony and Maris secretly love each other. They just refuse to acknowledge it in front of the others on the team. The way they bicker and throw insults back forth is the only way they know how to show their love for one another.

“You are lucky she isn’t here to put you in a head lock for that comment.” Bruce manages around the smile on his face.

“That was one time!”

“And you had to tap out.”

“I swear Barnes looked like he was going to propose marriage to her right there. So you better watch yourself.” Tony comments, pointing an accusing finger at Bruce. He walks around to the front of the bed and stares at his friend. Bruce still has a weary smile on his face from Tony’s comment. To Tony it doesn’t look the same thought. There are no laugh lines around Bruce’s eyes and mouth. No little wrinkle on his forehead. No grey streaked through his curls when he bends his head down to hide his smile from the world.

This isn’t Tony’s Bruce Banner.

And yet somehow it still is.

“Bucky does not have to worry about me.” says Bruce, “I’m not that much of a looker to be any competition.”

And there, the opening presents itself for Tony and he’d be a fool not to take it but he still hesitates. Taking a deep breath he knows he has to tell Bruce what has happened. The others are all probably waiting for him to do it before they come to see Bruce. “Well,” Tony starts nonchalantly, “a few days ago that statement may have been true. But you can probably give the best of us a run for our money now.”

The smile from Bruce’s face disappears and is instead replaced by a look of confusion. Even on his younger features Tony recognizes the look. It’s the same looks he gets when he’s in the lab and the results don’t add up. Tony find it endearing most days but today not so much.

“What are you talking about Tony?”

Tony doesn’t meet his eye when he addresses Bruce. “Listen it’s a bit of a long story Big Guy.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to be so why don’t you tell me Tony.” Bruce’s voice is stern and Tony knows he can’t avoid this conversation any longer. It’s better that it comes from him rather than one of the other team members. Although Tony kind of wishes Steve were there as some sort of back up. Stalling no longer he takes the seat that Maria vacated and he begins his story. Bruce doesn’t interrupt him once while he talks. His face is blank and Tony desperately wants him to show some kind of emotion so he can gauge where Bruce is at mentally with all this. When he’s finished recounting everything up until just before he came to the hospital Tony looks at Bruce. “So now you know why the nurses were so attentive.” Tony jokes hoping to break some of the tension in the room with a joke. It does not work.

Finally Bruce speaks, “Can you get me a mirror?”

Tony is up and out of his chair before Bruce is finished. He flags down one of the many nurse that just so happen to be passing down the hall outside of Bruce’s room and requests a mirror. The nurse returns a little while after with one of those face mirrors. Tony doesn’t bother wondering where she found one in the helicarrier. She lingers in the room for a bit staring at Bruce but Tony glares at her until he blushes red and leaves the room.

Bruce takes the mirror and looks at his reflection. Tony half expects one of those bad theatrical gasps when Bruce looks at himself but the other man remains silent. But just like in the movies, Bruce brings his hand up to his face and touches his cheek. He does this to the other side as well. Tony never understood the significance of this particular action but he guesses that it serves to reaffirm the idea that everything the person is seeing is actually real. Bruce continues to look at his reflection. He turns his face this way and that, observing it from different angels as though this is all some horrible trick of the light.

He tugs at one of the curls on his forehead and Tony has to wonder how it would feel to run his hand through Bruce’s hair right now. If it would feel softer than it usually did? Bruce seems to startle at the sight of no grey mixed between his soft curls. He remains alarmingly silent and Tony desperately wants to break this quietness, even if it’s with his own voice. He’s never had a problem hearing his own voice before. He hardly thinks he would develop a dislike for it now but Tony can’t bring himself to upset the perfect little bubble Bruce has constructed around himself.

Finally Bruce breaks the silence, “Is this really me?”

“Yup, 100 percent all grade A, Bruce Banner.” The attempt at a joke falls flat again and Tony scrambles to salvage the moment, hoping he can ensure Bruce doesn’t resort to silence once again.  
Before Tony can make another obnoxious comment Bruce whips around from looking at himself to stare at his lab partner and wow, was it just him or did Bruce’s curls get longer to? “Is that why you made that comment earlier?”

Of course Bruce of all people who remember every little thing Tony said. Why couldn’t he just focus on the issue at hand? Like the fact that he now looked like a twenty five year old. Tony managed to say as much.

“This is what you’re indignant about? Why don’t we focus on the fact that last week you were a forty nine year old man and today it looks like they would ask to see your ID if you went to the bar.”  
“Do I really look that young?”

Tony has to fight to keep the look of utter shock and annoyance off his face. Was Bruce really asking that question? Did he not just look at himself in the mirror for five minutes straight? Only Tony had ever been vain enough to do that. “Bruce my man you look like you still have your mother’s milk in your face. If I hadn’t heard you speak I would be asking if your voice broke yet and have the boys dropped.”

Bruce immediately looks away and Tony sees the red bloom on his cheeks and make its way up to his ears. The color is much more noticeable on Bruce’s face now and he cannot help but compare his friend to a blushing cherub with his curls and full cheeks.

There is a knock on the door that means that Tony won’t be getting another chance to make Bruce flush crimson again. The door opens gently to reveal Steve looking sheepish. “Mind if we come in.”  
Bruce smiles at their leader and makes a welcoming gesture with his hand. Steve opens the door wider and ushers in Natasha, Bucky and Sam. “Clint and Thor are in bound.” he gives as explanation for the absence of the other members of the team, “Went to collect the rest of the troops.”

The smile on Bruce’s face falters a bit but he manages to keep it steady for the most part.

Natasha takes a seat at the foot of the bed and stares at Bruce intently. Tony wants to tell her to knock it off but Nat has this look on her face that says the first person to break her concentration is going to get something of theirs broken in return. Bruce begins to fidget under her careful scrutiny. That seems to satisfy Nat as she finally lets a smile grace her lips and lean forward to brush aside some Bruce’s curls. “Good to know our Bruce is still in there no matter what the vessel looks like.” she says warmly.

Bruce smiles shyly and blushes, and Tony has to wonder about Nat’s sudden change on personality. From the looks being thrown around the room, he isn’t the only one wondering about her blatant show of affection for their resident rage monster.

“Thanks Nat,” Bruce mutter quietly still smiling at the assassin on his bed. Nat moves back after that but her eye don’t stray from Bruce’s face. Tony thinks she being a bit out of character and would rather she be standing up with the rest of them instead of lying on the bed with Bruce but he keeps his thoughts and words to himself.

“So how are you feeling about the new face?” Sam asks.

Bruce looks away from Nat and addresses the group, “It is absolutely surreal. I haven’t looked like this in over twenty years. I don’t think I even looked like this when I actually was twenty five.”

“I highly doubt that,” remarks Steve as he sits on the other side of Bruce’s bed, partially blocking Tony’s view of the other man, “It’s just the shock.”

“No,” Bruce tries again, “I think the chemical enhanced something or tweaked something … in here.” he points one finger to his chest. “It feels different. I feel different.”

The other remain silent. No one knew what to say really. This wasn’t something you could look up in a handbook. There was a section outlining how to deal with your friend if he gets de-aged into a young adult in the SHEILD manual. There would probably be one after this thought.

“Bruce, “Steve says, “I hate to ask you this but do feel the Hulk anywhere inside there.”

Funny no one thought to ask this before. Tony knows the accident that birthed the Hulk occurred longer after Bruce was twenty five but Phil has said the only thing really different was the Bruce’s cell had regenerated into a younger state. Did that mean there was just simply a younger Hulk resting in Bruce’s mind?

“He’s still there.” Tony doesn’t know if he’s relieved or disappointed with that information. It is apparent that the rest of the team share the same sentiment. “But,” continues Bruce after a moment of silence, “he seems calmer. I don’t feel him pushing against my consciousness as much.”

“There is a bright side to everything,” Sam comments and everyone manages a weak chuckle in light of everything that has happened.

“So is this permanent?”

“We don’t know. Phil called in Dr. Cho and Dr. Simmons to see if they could. Helen is flying in now.” Steve offers. Tony did not this so he assumes Phil told them after he left. If anyone can help Bruce Helen and Jemma were his best bet.

“Good,” Bruce says and his voice sounds much quieter than before. Tony sees his eyes begin to droop unexpectedly. Bruce looks at Tony and mouth one word, “Avs?”, before passing out completely.  
“Phil said that would happen,” Bucky says, speaking for the first time since he entered the room, “Said Bruce would continue having random black for a while.”

Tony does not reply. He continues looking at the young face of his best friend.

“What do we do now?” Tony asks the room in general.

“We carry on.” Steve says going into full leader mode, “We be there for him not matter what happens and we’ll get through this together.”

“I mean if the worse happens, “ adds Sam, “Bruce stays a sexy mother fucker for a little longer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still in desperate need for a beta reader so anyone interested please message me.  
> More fantasy science and Bruce and Tony being cute. Tell me who you want to see interact with Bruce in the next chapter in a comment. I'm willing to take requests.  
> Kudos and Comments Appreciated.  
> And thank you for the support thus far.


	5. Wake Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce fianlly gets out of that aweful hospital gown.  
> Tony gets irritated.  
> And the Barton Family make their first appearance in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the story is moving a bit slow for now. Things will pick up from the next chapter as they will be focused solely around Bruce interacting with specific characters. Plus we'll see Tony fianlly begin to understand his feelings and this new thing called jealousy.

The next time Bruce wakes up, the room is a lot noisier. Tony is still in the chair near his bed and their hands are still joined and Bruce thanks the stars that Tony’s attention is focused elsewhere because he does not get to see the blush on Bruce’s cheeks. He discretely surveys the room and hopes he doesn’t catch anyone else’s attention. There are more chairs in the room now. Natasha is still perched on the end of his bed and Bruce feels the warmth of her hand on his foot through the thin blanket. She’s rubbing absent minded circles into the sole of his foot and Bruce has to stop himself from crooning at the sensation.

Thor and Steve are both standing on either side of the door. They paint the perfect picture of intimidating bouncers at the entrance of a night club and Bruce could laugh at the idea of Steve and Thor manhandling a teenager out a club because his fake ID wasn’t realistic enough. However, the image is kind of underscored by the fact that Lila is sitting between the two men colouring. Clint and Laura probably arrived with the kids while he was asleep. Bruce grimaces at the thought of how Lila and Cooper reacted to seeing him. He doubts they recognized him. Bruce barely recognized himself when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

His grimace doesn’t go unnoticed by everyone in the room. He didn’t notice Nathaniel siting on his bed, beside Natasha. The little boy had been staring at Bruce the whole time. Now that he saw Bruce move he took it as his queue to make it known throughout the room.

“Unc Bru!!!!” chirps Nathaniel as he scrambles as fast as his pudgy legs can carry him up Bruce’s body. He sits himself down on Bruce’s chest knocking the wind out of the man beneath him and grabs two fists full of the brown curls. “Unc Bru, Unc Bru!” he chants as he bounces on Bruce’s chest. Luckily Clint comes to his rescue, scooping the toddler up and off his chest.

“I think that’s enough for Uncle Bruce right now Buddy.” Clint says. The space on Bruce’s chest isn’t vacant for long. Lila immediately takes up perch and Cooper is quick to sit beside her on the bed. They both look at him curiously and Bruce uses all his self-control not to turn and look away. Lila stops him from even bothering to try by grabbing his face and pulling close to hers with a surprising amount of strength for such a small child.

“You look so young Uncle Bruce.”

The other occupants of entire room burst out laughing. Tony, who had been holding his hand all the time, let it go and grabs at his stomach as he flings himself back against the chair and laughs heartily. Bruce is glad they can all smile. He doesn’t like it when his team is worried.

Cooper crawls up higher and whispers into Bruce’s ear, “Why are they all laughing? No one told a joke.”

Bruce smiles at the boy, charmed by his innocence. “It’s an old person thing.” he replies.

“Is that why you’re not laughing?” Lila asks as she joins the conversation between Bruce and her older brother, “Because you’re not old anymore.”

“Yea guys because I’m not old.” Bruce says smiling down at the two kids near him.

Cooper and Lila smile impishly, glad they can have their own little joke with Bruce away from the other adults. Nathaniel didn’t like being left out of the fun his siblings were having with Bruce and began to fuss in Clint’s arms. He squirms his way out of his father grip and lands back on the bed next to Lila.

“Looks like I’m interrupting a Hallmark moment.”

Maria is standing in the door way with a clip board in hand and a crooked smile twisting her lips. Lila squeals and jumps off the bed rushing to hug Maria’s legs.

“Maria so good to see you.” Laura says coming up to offer the other woman a hug.

“I think you mean Agent Hill.” Tony quips.

“That’s only for you Stark.” Bucky drawls and Steve and Sam snicker like two unruly school boys.

“Coming to the defense of your lady, I can respect that Barnes.” Maria raises a skeptical eyebrow and Bucky begins to stutter at Tony’s words. He doesn’t meet Maria’s eyes when he turns away from Tony; luckily Maris is preoccupied with Nathaniel who by then had toddled over to her from the bed. Natasha and Laura share a look and Bruce is just glad it isn’t directed at him.

Maria picks up Nathaniel and gives him back to Laura before going over to Bruce. “So the doctors have signed your discharge papers.”

“So that means you get to blow this Popsicle Stand and go back to the tower.” interrupts Tony. He stands next to Maria and casually leans his elbow on her shoulder. Bruce and the kids snicker while Maris rolls her eyes at the billionaire’s antics. “Dr. Cho and Dr. Simmons are already setting up in one of our labs so everything will be in house. Jane and Darcy are lending them a hand since they know their way around the place.” Tony knows how Bruce feels about other people getting their hands on his blood. The havoc they could wreck with just a small does. SHEILD had offered to house the doctors while they worked on finding a way to restore Bruce to his former self but Tony had steam rolled them and sent both women over to the tower to set up instead.

Bruce knows the effort Tony made and rewards his friend with the brightest and most sincere smile he can muster. His sentiments are mirror on Tony’s face.

“Pepper sent over some of your clothes so we’ll let you get changed.” Maria says breaking the moment between the two men.

The rest of the room take that as their queue to leave so that Bruce can get changed. “You gonna be alright Bud?” Tony asks before leaving the room.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay I’ll be back in ten to take you to the quinjet.”

Bruce gives Tony one last parting nod before slipping out the bed. The hospital gown they gave him didn’t offer much in the area of coverage for his backside. Bruce quickly empties the bag of clothes on the bed and silently sends a word of thanks to the heavens for the saint that is Pepper Potts. Although, it looks like Pepper dug deep in his closet to find one of the only pairs of jeans that he owns. Tony had bought him an entirely new wardrobe when he came to stay at the tower but most of the clothes went untouched.

Bruce slips on the boxer first and relishes in the feel on clean boxers against his skin for a while. Next he pulls on the jeans. He’s pleasantly surprised at how well they fit him. He knows that before … all of this… he wasn’t out of shape per se but Bruce knows he’s put on a few pounds since coming to live in Avengers Towers. These jeans fit like a glove; he kind of wished he had a full length mirror to see how he looks. Next comes the shirt. It’s one of the newer dove grey ones he owns. He has only had one chance to wear it before.

He is slipping the shirt around his shoulders when there is a knock on the door and someone enters. It’s one of the nurses from before. She’s carrying another clip board but halts in her steps when she sees him. Bruce, who had been in the process of buttoning up his shirt, stops and faces the nurse with his shirt hanging open. The woman’s eyes bulge as she takes in the doctor standing in front of her. Bruce doesn’t even notice but the hand at her side twitches as if she’s resisting the urge to touch him.

“Can I help you?” he asks breaking the woman out of her trance.

“Ahh… yes my apologies Dr. Banner.” stammers the nurse, “I just need you to sign off on this form please.”

“Sure,” Bruce says stepping forward with an outstretched hand to receive the clipboard. His movement causes his shirt to hang open. The nurse’s eyes are again drawn to his chest and she makes an inaudible gulp. She steps closer than necessary to hand over the form although it’s not like Bruce notices. He focuses his attention on reading through the form. Meanwhile the woman takes her time perusing Bruce’s physique. The man cuts a fine figure in his jeans. They’re a little slack and hang low on his narrow hips. She bites her lip to hold back from saying something inappropriate.

“Holy fucking shit! When did you get abs?”

The nurse, in her startled state, appears to jump ten feet in the air and then tumbles into Bruce. Out of reflex he catches her in his arms and the women clings to his chest. Tony is left gaping by the door at the sight of Bruce with the startled women in his close embrace. He resembles a fish the way his mouth is open and closing.

“Are you alright?” Bruce asks the woman. She straightens up in his grip and grabs both his forearms for leverage. She nods dumbly still staring at Bruce with a doe eyed expression. “Sorry about him. Here’s the form you needed.”

The nurse takes the clipboard from Bruce and takes a step back. Her eyes don’t leave him even as she walks backwards to the door and side steps Tony. Bruce doesn’t pay her much attention but Tony glares daggers at her retreating from. His stare is so malicious that the woman practically runs down the hall when she looks at him.

“So you didn’t answer my question.” Tony persists when the nurse is all the way down the hall. Bruce had turned his attention back to buttoning his shirt but looked up when Tony addressed him. Tony felt his breath catch in his throat at the picture Bruce presented. His shirt was halfway buttoned up and there was a just the slightest glimpse of the coarse hair that carpeted Bruce’s chest peeking out of the open neckline like a tease. His hair was tousled so it looked like someone had run their hands through it and tugged it in all directions. It looked like really good sex hair if you asked Tony. A stray curl was hanging in the middle of Bruce’s forehead just begging for him to walk up and push it back. He ignores that thought for now as Bruce quirks his eyebrows comically and looks down at himself as if it were the first time he noticed that he had abs.

“I don’t know.” replies Bruce a bit confused.

“Didn’t have them when you were younger?” Tony questions. The scientist in him was curious to know what the chemicals altered in Bruce. What were the physical differences from the Bruce standing in front of him and the actual Bruce Banner from twenty year ago? Where the chemicals enhancing Bruce’s physical appearance as well as his abilities kind of like Steve and the super soldier serum? Or were these strictly cosmetic enhancements? So many questions to ask and theories to test out.

Judging from the look on Bruce’s face he was following the same train of thought. This was why Tony loved Bruce. The man was always on the same scientific wavelength as him.

“Is the quinjet ready?”

“No not yet,” Tony steps a little closer and Bruce finishes buttoning up his shirt, “But I thought you might need these.” Tony takes out a pair of glasses from his pocket and hands them to Bruce. “Although I don’t know if you have the same prescription or if you really need glasses now.”

“I’ve always needed glasses, even when I was a kid.” says Bruce quietly as if it was something to be ashamed of. He puts them on and blinks a few times, adjusting to the feel of having glasses on again. Tony thinks he looks like a hot nerdy college student but doesn’t voice his opinion out loud.

“They quinjet isn’t ready just yet so I thought we’d head over to the cafeteria and get you something to eat.” he says instead of the other thoughts running through his head.

“Yea, I could do with some food right about now.”

“I know your post Hulk out appetite.” Tony jokes and he’s glad to hear Bruce laugh along with him.

The two men make their way out of the hospital wing and head to the cafeteria. Immediately Tony regrets the decision. The halls of SHEILD are teaming with agents all going about doing whatever it is agents in a super spy organization do (according to Maria and Phil it’s just a whole lot of paper work). Usually Tony’s ego gets a little boost every time people stop and stare but he knows this time they aren’t staring at him. Everyone they pass pauses in their steps to gaze at Bruce. He sees the widening of eyes and little hang jaws on the people they pass by in the hall. Sometimes he will cast a sideways glance at his friend to see his reaction but Bruce doesn’t seem to notice the looks people are sending his way.

Tony feels his irritation escalate when a young agent actually trips over his own feet while staring at Bruce. The poor guy drops all the files he was carrying in his arms on the floor. If it were up to him they would continue walking and leave the young agent to gather up the mess himself, but he’s with Bruce the martyr, who stops to help pick up the folders.  
He stands to the side, refusing to help when it was the guy’s own damn fault for not looking where he’s going.

“Th… Thank you.” The guy stammers out.

Bruce lifts his head and there is a bright smile on his face, “No problem at all.” The agent’s face practically glows red. He takes the last folder from Bruce’s out stretched hand. “You should probably watch where you’re going next time.”

Embarrassment burns on the young man face. “Yea, yea I will. Thanks again.” With that the guy sprints around Bruce and makes his way down the hall. Tony huff and rolls his eyes at the retreating figure of the young man.

“I thought SHEILD trained their dogs better than that.” Tony snarls.

“He just tripped Tony.”

“Yea ‘cuz he wasn’t looking where he was going.”

Bruce gives Tony an incredulous look as if saying _really you’re being purposely obtuse_. Tony returns an incredulous look of his own and Bruce rolls his eyes. “He was obviously staring at us.”

It takes Tony a moment to comprehend Bruce’s words. Was Bruce really saying what Tony thought he was saying? Did Bruce finally see all the attention people were giving him? Did he know how handsome he appeared to everyone else? However, Tony’s line of questioning was cut short by what Bruce said next.

“Beside I thought you would be a little more sympathetic to people literally falling before you.”

Tony could have laughed out loud right there in the hall if it wouldn’t appear like he was losing his mind. Of course Bruce would never be as narcissistic as to think people were falling all over themselves because of him. Sure it was something Tony himself would do, his ego being the size that it was … but never Bruce. The poor guy wouldn’t know if a woman or man was hitting on him even if they actually took something and hit him over the heads with it. He would probably think they were aiming for the person behind him.  
He grabs Bruce in a bear hug and took the chance to ruffle his hair (it was as soft as Tony imagined it would be). “You’re right. I just _can not_ turn off the charm sometimes.”

“Let go Tony!” Bruce manages to escape the headlock Tony had him in but the smile he sports afterwards is dazzling and more importantly genuine and that was all that matters to Tony.

“Whatever let’s go get some food in you.” Tony throws an arm around Bruce’s shoulder and continues strolling down the halls of the helicarrier. “Growing boys need their fill.”

  
Even though the elbow he takes to the stomach knocks some of the wind out of him Tony couldn’t find it in himself to stop smiling. He wears it all the way to the cafeteria. And if people see him with his arms around Bruce and that gives them the impression the guy is taken and thus off limits for drooling over, well, all the more reason to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jarvis comes in the next chapter and I can't wait to write dialogue for him. He has the most amazing sass and attitude around. Also Darcy comes in in the next chapter and I can't wait to see how she reacts to seeing young Bruce. 
> 
> Thank you all for the support thus far, you all make writing worth it. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated.


	6. Lab Time with Darcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finally gets Bruce back to the tower and Helen and Jemma get to work. Natasha is being surprisingly nice to Bruce and Tony doesn't like it. Bruce shows his sassy side for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning I haven't watched Agents of S.H.E.I.LD so I don't know about Jemma character all that well so I'm trying to pull her off using what knowledge I got off the internet. Natasha may seem a bit out of character but I'm using her change in attitude as a plot generator. I know the story is moving a bit slow but I promise it picks up after this with chapter all based around Bruce and Tony's interaction with specific memebers of the team and co. So bare with me.

Eating in the cafeteria is a quiet affair. Most of the agents are off doing their jobs so the place is relatively empty except for the old woman behind the counter who gave Bruce an extra piece of pie because he smiled at her. Tony has a hard time getting irritated with her when she winks at him and gives him the call me signal when Bruce’s back is turned.

After satisfying Bruce’s ferocious post Hulk-Out appetite it’s off to the quinjet for both of them. Maria’s already at the cock pick doing the pre-flight check-up when Bruce and Tony arrive. Bucky is hovering over her shoulder, presumably waiting to take his seat in the co-pilot’s chair. Usually either Natasha or Clint fly the jet but seeing as the kids are all on board they decide to take a back seat literally and give Maria the reins.

Steve, Sam and Thor are staying back to discuss some things with Phil and would take the next flight back to the tower.

As soon as they settle into the seats across from Clint and Laura, Bruce passes out on Tony’s shoulder.

“Mommy what’s wrong with Uncle Bruce?” Lila asks clearly worried about the doctor.

“He’s fine kiddo,” Tony responds immediately, hoping to avoid any kind of distressed children on the flight back to the tower, “He’s just really tired after letting the Hulk out. You know how it is.”

Lila smiles and nods enthusiastically. When Clint had first introduced his family to the other Avengers they had explained to the kids the kinds of powers each member had so Lila and Cooper were well aware of the condition Bruce is usually in after a transformation. Laura shoots Tony as grateful smile but then directs her attention to Bruce and Tony can see that’s she concerned. Clint leans over probably to explain the situation to her out of ear shot of the kids. Luckily, Natasha has then occupied with a story that Tony hopes to god is completely made up.

“Okay we’re ready for takeoff,” calls Maria from the front of the quinjet. Bucky is next to her prepping and looks quite content to be in the spot he’s in. Tony wishes Bruce were awake so that he could relay commentary to him but he does not have the heart to wake up the passed out scientist. The kids all get strapped in between the adults for the flight. Tony readjusts his position on the bench so that Bruce’s head is resting in the crook of his neck and his arm is around Bruce’s shoulder. He makes eye contact with Natasha and she’s giving him this weird smile that he doesn’t want to interpret right now.

Maria gets the all clear from flight control and they’re off in the air.

The flight back is uneventful and everyone on board is grateful for it, well maybe not the kids but the adults are grateful. Bruce still hasn’t woken up and Tony would never admit it but he’s been worried ever since the first half an hour of unconsciousness passed.  

Maria and Bucky land the quinjet on the roof of Avengers Towers. The automation in the tower does the rest of the work for them. When the ramp descends Pepper is already there waiting for them. Natasha is the first to disembark with Lila holding her hand. The little girl gives Pepper a big hug. Clint and Laura follow close behind with Cooper and Nathaniel. The toddler gives Pepper a toothy grin and stretches out to meet her. Laura hands over the boy easily.

“So when are you and Happy going to have one of your own?” Laura questions and Pepper’s face gets as red as her hair.

“I reserve the right to be called Awesome Uncle Tony!”

Everyone, even the kids, roll their eyes at that. In the beginning Tony had tried to get them to call him that but it hadn’t worked out and he was just plain Uncle Tony. Pepper gives Nathaniel back to his mother which the toddler does not appreciate at all. She pinches his cheeks lightly and gives him a peck on the forehead.

“Happy won’t like you kissing another man!” Tony hollers.

“Shut it Tony,” Pepper chastises.

“You’re sainthood is imminent.” Maria comments when she walks down the ramp to meet the other woman.  

“Did SHEILD send in the paper work for your canonization already?” Pepper responds.

“I’m sure it will come through soon. No one deserves it more.” interrupts Bucky. He hits Maria with his shoulder as he makes his way down the ramp and she rolls her eyes but the smile on her face is unmistakeable. In the background Natasha gives Laura a knowing look while Pepper smiles indulgently at the pair. Clint continues to look clueless but not one really pays him any attention.

“Hate to break up this feel good fest but Brucey is still passes out.” Tony calls, “Some help please!”

Bucky and Clint come to Tony’s aid, gently extracting Bruce. The hold they get on him is not gentle thought. Bucky has his hands under Bruce’s arms and Clint has a grip on his feet. Even with the manhandling he still does not wake up.

“Damn didn’t know Bruce was this heavy. The guy isn’t that big.” Clint complains as he and Bucky make their way down the ramp.

“Muscle mass tends to be more dense.” Tony offers, “Did you know Bruce had abs?” he says it like it’s the most fascinating discovery he’s made to date. 

“I have a gurney on the way sir.” Jarvis’ voice comes through the speakers installed all over the tower. Tony is grateful that Jarvis can anticipate their needs so well. One of the Iron Man suits walks out of the elevator pushing a tall metal gurney. Bucky and Clint place Bruce on top of it and Tony immediately takes the handles, directing it back into the elevator. Nat follows him in. She has one hand placed firmly on Bruce’s chest. If Tony remembers his anatomy lessons from college well, her hand is directly above his heart.

Tony feels a surge of irritation pass through him but stamps it down.

“Pep, get our house guests settled in their usual suites and J, tell Dr. Cho we’re on our way.”

The elevator doors close and it begins its decent downwards.

“Bucky should just ask her out already.” Nat says out of the blue. Tony is inclined to agree with her.

“What does the SHEILD betting pool say?”

Nat shrugs her shoulder, “This one’s big so we can’t really figure out when.

“Does Hill know?”

“Maria is oblivious when it comes to matters concerning herself.”

Tony and Nat startle when Bruce speaks. He’s still on the bed and his eyes are closed and his breathing hasn’t exactly changed to show that he woke up but he’s awake and apparently listening to their conversation.

“He’s right.” Nat picks up directly where Bruce left off. Tony notes her hand is still on Bruce’s chest but he doesn’t seem to notice and Tony is not inclined to tell Natasha to move it when he’s in an enclosed space with her with nowhere to run. “Maria didn’t even notice when I hit on her when I first joined SHEILD.”

The smile Tony wears is downright degenerate. He wags his eyebrows at Nat and Bruce groans on the bed. He’s been around Tony enough to know the scandalous look the other genius is sporting. He also knows Tony well enough to know the million dirty scenarios running through his brain.

“Why Red,” Tony sings, “I didn’t know you swung that way.”

“You know nothing Stark,” Natasha replies with a smirk.

“Bruce did you know about this? I would be very disappointed in you if you knew this information and didn’t share it with your best friend.”

“I don’t think Avs would care about this stuff.” Bruce says in lieu of actually answering the question. He then winks at Natasha. The pair shares a knowing smirk and Tony gasps dramatically. Luckily before he can go on a rant about Bruce betraying the bro code and science bros before hoes (although Tony would never utter that word in front of any of the female members of their group, for fear of pain of death), the doors to the elevator open to the lab Dr. Cho and Dr. Simmons are in. 

Bruce makes to get up but Tony pushes him back down.

“There won’t be another chance for me to do something like this.”

Bruce shakes his head but indulges Tony’s whim by lying back down and closing his eyes.

“Would like a sheet as well to complete the act sir?” Jarvis asks.

“Ha ha J, tone down the sass would you?”

“You did create him Stark; his sass is a direct result of your doing.” Natasha says.

“She’s right you know.”

“Shut it Bruce, you’re supposed to be on my side.” Tony whines.

The conversation dies down as the doors to the lab open up and Darcy comes rushing out. She pushes Tony aside and scopes Bruce up in her arms, crushing his face against her bosom.

“Oh Dr. B we were so worried when Thor told us what happened to you!” she cries. Tony and Natasha take a couple of steps back from Darcy. They really did not want to be caught in her emotional world wind.  Bruce says something but his words are muffled by Darcy’s tight embrace. “We’re going to get you all better. Don’t you worry one bit Dr. B!”

Again Bruce tries to speak but only indistinguishable sounds came out.

“Darcy I think you’re cutting off his breathing,” Jane comes out of the lab flowed closely by Dr. Cho and Dr. Simmons, “and probably his circulation.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry Dr. B.” Darcy backs up, letting Bruce breathe. However she immediately rushes back in. “Holy shit! Darcy grabs his face much like Lila did earlier in the hospital room. “I know they said you de-aged but damn! I didn’t expect this.” She squeezed his cheeks together and then proceeded to examine him closer by getting right up in his face.

This was when Tony decides he needs to step in. He gently grabs Darcy by the upper arm and steers her away from Bruce giving her as much of a disapproving look as he can muster. Jane makes her way forward, standing where Darcy was but she is mindful of Bruce’s personal space and doesn’t touch him.

“Amazing,” she whispers.

Natasha and Darcy share a knowing look. Jane goes rigid and a blush crosses her nose and runs up to her ears.

“I simply mean from a… from a scientific perspective.” she stammers, “Yes, from a scientific perspective Bruce is amazing.”

Bruce ducks his head and scratches the back of his neck to hide his very own blush. Jane walks back to the lab doors with her head hung low, clearly embarrassed. Dr. Cho and Dr. Simmons, who had kept their distance during the little reunion, decide it was time to make their introductions. Bruce and Dr. Cho were well acquainted through mutual projects for both SHEILD and Stark Industries.

“Dr. Banner,” Helen greets, “I wish our latest meeting was under better circumstances.”

“Likewise and please call me Bruce.”

“Then you have to extend to me the same courtesy and call me Helen.”

“Of course.”

In the background Tony rolls his eyes at the cliché lines being expelled by both parties. For two geniuses they could come up with some better stuff. Tony would give Bruce a crash course in banter when they’re alone next. Before Helen can move out of the way, Dr. Simmons is in Bruce’s face.

“Oh my God! Dr. Banner it is such an honor to meet you!” Jemma exclaims. She grabs hold of Bruce’s hand and pumps it up and down repeatedly. “I have read all your works all the way back to your days at Culver! I can’t believe I am actually getting to meet you and shake your hand. Leo so isn’t going to believe this!”

Bruce smiles shyly at the young woman in front of him. “It is a pleasure to meet you to Dr…..?”

“Oh? I’m sorry, Dr. Simmons.”

“Dr. Jemma Simmons?”

Jemma stops moving for a moment and her eyes widen comically. Bruce actually gets worried for a moment because Jemma is so still. “You know my name?” she whispers.

“Well yea,” replies Bruce shrugging his shoulders. The move just emphasizes the lines on his chest and Jemma’s eyes move there unconsciously. Tony, who had been observing the exchange from afar; scoffs at the way Jemma practically salivates over Bruce. Sure they guy deserves every award under the sun but did she really have to get so up close and personal with the man and bat her eyelashes like a pin up girl. “Phil says your one of SHEILD’s most promising young researchers.”

Jemma squeals and grips Bruce’s hand tighter while she does a little happy jump up and down. Tony sees the grimace that crosses Bruce’s face when Jemma’s grip tightens and decides that the greeting has lasted long enough.

“Okay Squeakers,” interjects Tony, “Skin to skin contact doesn’t translate to super glued together.” He takes hold on Bruce’s hand and removes it from the iron tight grip Jemma has on it. Tony is surprised that for such a small girl she has quite the grip. Jemma let’s go only to stare in awe at Tony. Usually Tony relishes in the way people get star struck by him but something in Jemma slightly dazed eyes has him feeling nervous and just a bit irritated.

“You’re Tony Stark,” Jemma says when she finally regains her voice, “You are a legend at SHEILD!”

As much as Tony hates to admit it, her evident hero worship eases his irritation a little. Don’t get him wrong, he’s no overly fond of the young doctor in front of him but he could see himself tolerating her eventually, especially if she could help Helen cure Bruce.

“Thanks kid,” Tony knows Bruce doesn’t particularly like his narcissistic persona so he tries his very best to be civil to people if only when Bruce is around. The smile Bruce sports after the little exchange is all the reminder Tony needs to solidify that it was the correct course of action.

The pleasantries end there for now.

The lab Tony outfitted Helen and Jemma with is state of the art, second only to the one he bestowed Bruce with. Natasha, Jane and Darcy take a step back and let Helen work. Jemma putters about but she has dropped the flutter fan girl personality and is all business, calibrating machinery and gathering equipment for Helen. Tony lingers on the outskirts of the work bubble. He’s mindful of staying out of the women’s way since biology and the squishy sciences – as he likes to call them – are not his forte but he can’t find it in himself to leave Bruce alone.

Maybe it’s guilt.

Maybe it’s something more.

Tony chooses not to examine it just then.

“Okay Bruce I wanna get some measurements of you right now,” Helen explains as she pulls on a pair of sanitary gloves. “Do you have measurements from before this happened? So we can have a baseline for comparison.” Even though the question is about Bruce she directs it at Tony. She probably knows that Bruce did extensive research and experiments into his _condition_.

“Yea we do, J send down the data.” Tony walks over to an unused monitor and begins pulling up file upon file that he and Bruce have complied over the months that they’ve worked together.

In the meantime Helen has Bruce stand with his arms spread wide eagle style while Jarvis runs scans cataloguing his physical measurements. The other women look on from the side and Tony can see Darcy and Natasha whispering to each other. Jane joins the conversation and something the former assassin says causes the astrophysicist to blush madly. He’s willing to bet ten of his luxury sports cars that what Natasha had to say had nothing to do with science or Thor for the matter. Tony has it on good authority that Jane blushes like a middle school virgin whenever Thor is mentioned. He sees the way Natasha and Darcy are eyeing up Bruce and rolls his eyes so hard he’s surprised he doesn’t sprain something.

Jarvis completes the scan and sends the results to Jemma’s tablet. Helen has one with Bruce’s old data and both women converge on one side of the room to discuss the difference in the data. Tony isn’t worried about anything but Bruce has a crease on his forehead that betrays his worry.

Tony makes his way over to Bruce when the doors to the lab burst open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated in some time. I've had a lot of family emergencies over the past month. Not to mention my anxiety has been runnign amuck. I'm trying to write and post up the chapters I should have been posting up all long. I know where this story is going and how I want it to turn out, it's just geting it all on paper if you know what I mean.
> 
> I still really need as beta reader so if any one is interested please message me. It's hard sometimes to write and then have to proof read and go through all the reworking and editing. 
> 
> I'm still trying to find my writing style on this one so I apologoze if it comes across as a bit shaky. 
> 
> Thanks for all the support thus far I've crossed 1000 hits on this story so I am most grateful.


	7. What's the Diagnosis?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen and Jemma explain what's happened to Bruce.  
> Not much action for the plot to this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I haven't been updating as regularly as I should. The last few months of last year have been really hectice for me. I've started universityt in a foreign country and it's takes a bit of getting used to what with literally experiencing a different culture. My anxiety has also made it really hard to focus enough to write. Basically I lacked the motivation to do anyting other than survive each day.
> 
> But I'm better now. Got my anxiety under control and finally found my zeal to write. 
> 
> To be fair this chapter has to be the most boring of the entire story so far. Only subtle plot lines appear. I know I keep promising that the story will pick up and hopefully it will. I've fianlly set my foundation and now each chapter will be it's own little mini adventure that will add to the story as a whole. 
> 
> To those who have been waiting patiently for an update, thanks for the continued support.

Peter’s small form tumbles through the lab doors. Both hands are braced on his knees and he’s doubled over panting deeply. Jane looks slightly concerned while Darcy and Natasha sport matching smirks. Helen does not seem pleased with the sudden intrusion into her lab by the teenager and Jemma again has that star struck look on her face.

Peter is still panting by the door. He puts up one finger up, indicating to everyone that he still needs a minute to catch his breath. Finally, when enough oxygen has entered his body he straightens up and hoists his back pack up higher. Tony diverts his path from Bruce and instead goes to the young man standing there looking like the text book example of a harried high schooler.

“Kid aren’t you a super hero? Shouldn’t you be fitter? I mean the elevator is right there.” The tone Tony uses is incredulous. Peter manages to look sheepish and pulls down the sleeve of his sweater in that nervous tic of his. Tony still has a soft spot for the kid thought and doesn’t make any more comments.

“Hey aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?” questions Natasha

“I am…. Well technically I’m on lunch break.” Peter doesn’t make eye contact with anyone as he explains his presence in the lab. “When Ned told me you guys were back at the Tower I decided to you know… swing by.”

Even though Bruce is wholly against skipping school no matter how smart you are, he can’t hide the timid grin that sneaks up on him when Peter makes his overused spider pun. Tony thinks the whole thing is getting old and Peter should get some new material but he puts that on the back burner to address bigger issues.

“Who is Ned and how did he know we were back at the Tower?”

Peter only then realizes his slip and looks like a deer caught in the head lights. He takes an unconscious step back towards the door and his eyes dart around as if looking for the fastest means of escape.

“You know, your age really shows when you’re nervous like this.” comments Darcy, “You look even younger than Bruce.” For a moment indignation flashes in Peter’s eyes before he remembers that he’s under speculation. Instead of answering Tony’s question, Peter chooses to focus on Bruce. He hopes that Tony will forget all about his comment about Ned if he brings the attention of the room solely back on Bruce.

“Wow, Dr. Banner, you look like… really young.”

Bruce sighs and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose like he always does when something is frustrating him. Peter feels a little bad for using Bruce as his escape goat but he can’t risk getting in any more trouble with Mr. Stark.

“Smooth Parker,” Tony says before spinning around and heading back to Bruce’s side. Everyone can hear the exasperation in his voice but it is undermined by the gentle look he levels on Bruce while the other man sits on the examination table. Peter opens his mouth to say something, to try to apologize or something, but sharp looks from both Darcy and Natasha shut him up. He shuffles over to stand beside both women and promptly shuts his mouth. Now that the lab is somewhat restored to its former calm, Jemma and Helen re-converge to discuss their results. They speak quietly between themselves and send sideways glances at Bruce every now and then.

Bruce squirms in his spot on the table. The entire situation reminds him too much of his time held in captivity by Ross. Those aren’t memories he cherishes and would have rather not had the opportunity to make them in the first place. His skin begins to itch and his head spins. Hulk rumbles in the background, responding to Bruce’s distress. It startles Bruce because Hulk feels stronger. The rumble rattles him physically. Bruce is terrified. Before all of this Hulk was unpredictable and hard for him to keep controlled. It seems that now he has renewed vigor to go along with Bruce’s revitalized youth.

From his spot in the lab Tony sees the moment Bruce’s gaze goes distant. He knows that look. It isn’t the look Bruce gets in the lab when he drifts off into the mysteries of science. It isn’t the faraway look he gets when he looks at the team and realises that they are a part of his life now. It’s not the look he gets when the people on the news calls the Hulk a hero. Tony has all these looks and many more categorized in a tidy file in the part of his brain completely dedicated to Bruce.

No this isn’t one of those looks, but it’s one he knows just as well. It’s the look Bruce gets the split second before he turns into Hulk. It’s that look his face takes on for less than a fraction of a second right before it smooth’s itself over and Bruce lets Hulk take over. So Tony doesn’t think twice before jumping up on the examination table next to Bruce. He makes sure his shoulder bumps with Bruce’s to alert him to the presence next to him. He registers Tony presence but he still looks stricken.

Unconsciously Tony grabs Bruce’s hand and squeezes it firmly. He hopes it will center Bruce and bring him back to himself like it did when Pepper or Rhodey did it for him after Afghanistan. Bruce squeezes his hand in return and Tony breathes easier. He sees Bruce turn to him and give him a grateful smile, although it still has a sad undertone to it. It makes Tony’s heart clench in his chest to see it. It’s been some time since Bruce had reason to look like that.

No one else in the room notices the interaction between the two scientists. Natasha and Darcy are busy whispering between themselves too heatedly to notice the looks that past between the physicist and the engineer. Jane and Peter seem to find themselves talking about nothing other than Thor himself. Peter is a big fan of Thor- well technically he’s a big fan of all the Avengers and the extension team really but who can grudge him- and Jane takes every opportunity she can find to talk about how amazing Thor is. She completely deletes the time he basically left her without any means of communication for fifteen month out of her memory.

The only person, because yes according to Tony he is a person, to notice the goings on between the Tower’s resident geniuses is Jarvis. Technically speaking Jarvis sees everything. He is pretense in every room of the tower and every hour of the day. He may not have cameras in every room (Steve and Natasha had been vicious in their argument to remove cameras from private spaces) but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what’s going on.

The Avengers are responsible for keeping the world safe and he is responsible for keeping them safe, especially Tony.

It’s plain and simple like that.

And ever since Bruce moved into the Tower, Tony has made Jarvis extend his over protectiveness of him to cover Bruce as well. So Jarvis always has eyes on Bruce and Tony. They make things easy for him by always being in the same room for majority of the day, that room of course being the lab. Most of the times Bruce and Tony forget that Jarvis isn’t just there for helping them run their simulations and doing calculations. Jarvis sees every moment of their interaction with each other, from the moment he was introduced into the system aboard the helicarrier to this moment right now, he has seen how they interact with each other on a different level. It goes much the same for the way they are behaving now.

After what seems like eons but was in fact mere minutes Helen and Jemma emerge from their science bubble. They both sport matching looks. Tony feels Bruce tense up once again. “Everything gonna be okay Bud.” he consoles. Bruce takes his word to heart and his shoulders drop a fraction of an inch. It’s enough for Tony and he marvels at the amount of trust Bruce puts in him, the amount of faith he has in Tony’s word. It makes the guilt that he has been steadily ignoring flare up and burn in his chest.

If Tony can sense Bruce’s discomfort then it works both ways because Bruce hears when his breathing changes. He hears that it comes out a little faster, feels Tony’s chest raise a little higher on the intake and his shoulder slump a little lower on the exhales. They’ve become so in tune with one another that the slightest change in behaviour has them on alert. The clasped hands tighten and they both brace themselves for whatever Helen has to tell them.

Everyone in the lab goes silent and moves a little closer to hear the diagnosis. Tony wishes the other were not in the room as well. He knows that Bruce wouldn’t want them here but he can’t grudge them their concern. He would have moved heaven and hell to be there with Bruce to.

Even though Bruce is a genius Helen goes slowly in her explanation of what she and Jemma have hypothesized. Basically from what they can infer from these preliminary tests and minor comparisons, Bruce’s cells are in an accelerated rate of regeneration. She explains that everyone gets older but the one physical manifestations of this ‘ageing’ in a broad sense refers to when cells in the body cease dividing and healing themselves. The chemicals introduced into Bruce’s body during the explosion have reversed this natural response of the cells. So they were now dividing rapidly to replace old cells and healing quicker than before.

“So what does that all mean for Dr. B?” Darcy questions first.

“We’re not sure just yet.” Helen answers honestly.

The room remains silent after that.

Of course it’s Tony who breaks the silence. “Well that doesn’t matter right now! You both have the best equipment money can buy and the most powerful AI at your command. You can figure it out.”  
There’s a round of aye’s that go around the room at Tony’s declaration. Bruce smiles and feels a warmth blossom in his chest at the show of support he has. These people are here to stand by his side and he can’t remember that last time he felt this safe and secure.

Peter comes forward after a moment and says, “If there is anything I can do just let me know okay.”

Tony claps the kid on his back causing him to lurch forward slightly. “We’ll call you if we need you Peter. But for now you better get back to school. I don’t think May would appreciate that call from the principal.”

Peter looks at his watch and his eyes widen, “Oh shit.”

“Language!”

At the one word everyone turns to see Steve and Bucky enter the lab.

“Hey Spangles, you just get in?”

“A pilot just dropped us off Tony. Phil’s here too, although he’s been commandeered by the kids.”

“Figured as much,” Nat comments, “I better go save him. Hey Darcy, want to go see how Phil looks in a tiara before we save him?”

“Hell yea!” Darcy shouts before bounding behind Nat to the elevator. “Keep us updated!”

Steve shakes his head like an old man just thinking about what Phil will inevitably go through before he is released from Lila’s hold. Bucky can’t help but find it all very amusing. The pair makes their way further into the lab coming up to where Bruce is seated.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Bucky asks Peter.

“I know I’m going.” defends Peter, but before he leaves he asks, “Will Avs be here still?”

“Who’s Avs?” Steve questions.

Tony waves them off, “Irrelevant at the present moment.”

Peter shrugs and Steve chooses to drop the subject as well.

“See ya guys!” is the last thing Peter shouts before he swings out the window that Jarvis opens for him.

“Remind me why you keep that kid around?” Bucky inquires.

“He grows on you,” comes Tony’s reply, “like mold on bread.”

“You love him and you know it.” That brings the attention in the room back to Bruce.

“Doc what’s the diagnosis?”

Considering there were three doctors in the room it took a minute before Bruce came to the conclusion that he was probably the one Bucky was directing his question to. Keeping it short and sweet, Bruce told them what Helen and Jemma had figured out, with Tony adding in his comments here and there, because keeping silent was never his strong point. In the end Steve and Bucky get the gist of it all.

“Actually, if you don’t mind Captain Rogers, can I get a blood sample to do some comparison work?” Helen asks. Steve being Steve immediately agreed so Helen and Jemma take him off to the side to draw the blood.

“So how’s it feel to be the oldest one on the team Stark?” Bucky teases when it’s just the three of them left at the examination bed. Tony’s eyes narrow and he glares viciously at Bucky. Bruce, not wanting to offend his science bro simply smiles at the good natured jab.

“Technically, you and Spangles are older than me by a good half century.” he rebukes, “So I would watch who you call old gramps.”

“Technically…” Bucky says, putting extreme emphasis on the words, “that is true, but our looks don’t match the number.”

“And you are saying mine do? I’ll have you know many people tell me I don’t look my age.”

“No you definitely look older.”

Tony’s whips his head around to stare at his friend, “Et tu Bruce?” The other man gives Tony a half -hearted shrug while Bucky doubles over, clutching his stomach laughing. Tony only has it in him to feel annoyed for a moment before he’s laughing alongside Bruce and Bucky.

There’s a fleeting thought in Tony’s mind that maybe things won’t be so bad after all. Sure Bruce looks a couple of years younger but that doesn’t really change a thing. At the core of it all, he’s safe and alive, and still the Bruce that Tony loves. And that one word causes Tony to pause. Of course he loves Bruce he reiterates, just like he loves Rhodey and Pepper.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.  
> I welcome constructive criticism so leave me a line in the comments and don't forget to hit the Kudos button.


	8. Business as Usual?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce get's some disasppointing news that he has to deal with while Tony begins to see things in a different light. Steve offers Bruce some words of advice and Thor helps diffuse an awkward situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry my updates aren't regular but rest assured that the story is not abandoned. It just takes me a bit longer than I like to write these chapters. I just want to develop this story properly so its something worth reading. 
> 
> Specail thanks to me Beta reader - type40sonsultingdetective.  
> I couldn't have written this without her.

When Helen and Jemma are finished with them, Maria swoops in and calls all the Avengers to the massive living room on the communal floor. Rhodey and Sam occupy the two armchairs; while Thor is stretched across the sofa with Clint perched precariously on the arm rest.

“Wow!” Rhodey stops talking with Sam and stares in disbelief at Bruce. “You should be in one of those ‘Doctors Hate Him’ commercials.”

An unwilling snort escapes Bruce. “That’s a new one and I appreciate it.”

“Seriously Doc. If you manage to bottle that shit you’ll be richer than Stark within a month.” Clint moves from his perch on the arm rest and slaps Thor’s foot, telling him to make space for the others. Steve and Bucky squeeze in on the couch with the archer and the Norse god. It was a good thing Tony opted to redecorate the living room with a bigger sofa when the team officially all moved in.  
(Technically getting bigger furniture was Pepper’s idea but he paid for it, so he should get most of the credit.)

Bruce and Tony take the love seat near the window. Tony momentarily gets distracted from everyone else by the way the sun from the window streams in and shines through the coffee curls on Bruce’s head. The other man is bathed in the low yellow light and it makes something warm bloom in Tony’s chest. However, his trance is broken by Natasha who squeezes into the space between the two scientists on the couch. Mind you it was very limited space in the first place, so the entirety of Nat’s body, from shoulder to knee is pressed up against to Tony.

Normally, he wouldn’t mind. In fact Tony would usually revel in the opportunity to be so up close and personal with the former Russian spy, if only to tease the hell out of her. But he is acutely aware of the fact that if she is so close to him on one side then she is equally as close to Bruce on the other side. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony sees Nat’s hand find its way to Bruce’s knee, where it rests comfortably.

Tony feels an irrational sort of anger well up inside of him when he steals glances at Natasha’s hand on Bruce’s knee. She should know that Bruce doesn’t like to be touched below the waist without warning first. Tony knows that first hand because the one time he lost his sense and decided to lay a hand on Bruce’s hip while in the lab; just bros being bros, nothing to untoward. Bruce had startled so badly he dropped the beaker in his hand and it smashed to a million pieces on the floor. The start was so unexpected that Bruce’s eyes flashed a brilliant verdant. Bruce had been so mortified that since then Tony and the team made sure to convey their intention well before acting.

That didn’t seem to be the case now, at least. Bruce doesn’t seem to mind Nat’s hand on his knee, right there in the open. Instead his focus is solely on Maria, who appears to be waiting on Phil, who comes bursting through the elevator a moment later, looking beleaguered. He stalks to the middle of the living room, throwing off a pink feather boa on the coffee table, trying in vain to wipe off the blush that is literally painted on his cheeks in blotchy, pink patches.

“Lila did a number on you.” Clint comments.

“It’s those damn eyes.” Phil murmurs while trying to compose himself again.

“I thought you were going to save him?” Bruce looks at Natasha’s questioningly. She shrugs her shoulder in lieu of answering.

“Can we get this thing started? Or are we waiting on someone else?” Tony grumbled. It’s not unusual for him to be grumpy during meetings but he’s particularly irritable now.

“Yea,” Maria moves to the center of the room, and picks a pink feather out of Phil’s hair. The agent looks thoroughly embarrassed, adding his own blush to the blotchy makeup. “We just need to inform you all how things are going to go now in light of Bruce’s condition.”

“I can still go on missions,” Bruce defends, “The Hulk is still there.”

“Yes but we don’t understand how your random blackouts will affect any of this. For your safety we’re putting you on medical leave effective immediately.” Bruce doesn’t put up a fight since he is familiar with the tone Maria’s voice takes. He meets her eyes, seeing regret flashing in them and he knows what she has to say next won’t please him. “You’re also prohibited from the labs.”

And there it was.

“But Agent Hill,” Bruce begins, “I’m already off active duty; you can’t keep me from the labs too.”

“Yea Hill!” Tony adds, “Bruce knows more about his own biology than anyone else. We can use his expertise in the lab if we’re going to find a cure.”

“Tony’s right! I can help find the cure faster. I don’t doubt Jemma and Helen’s skills but surely having all of us work together will move things along quicker.”

“I’m sorry Bruce but you of all people should understand the reasons why we’re doing this,” Phil adds, returned now to his fully professional, no nonsense self. “We’ve already spoken with Pepper. All you work has been suspended until we get you back. At least until your blackouts stops.”

“Consider it finally putting in all those vacation days to use Doc.” Clint calls out, with a reassuring grin and a wink.

“Yes! A well-deserved rest for our most honorable healer!” proclaims Thor. Both Clint and Steve, who occupy the sofa on either side of Thor, cringe during the Asgardian’s booming declaration.

“Well when you put it that way...who am I to argue?” Bruce rubs the back of his head in a nervous gesture that Tony can only assume was something he did in his younger year.

“Don’t worry Bruce.” Nat pats Bruce’s knee reassuringly, “We’ll all keep you company. Trust me, it won’t a hardship.”

The way Natasha emphasizes the word ‘all’ has alarm bells ringing off in Tony’s head for some reason. Nothing good will come of this. Tony knows that for himself but he can’t voice his opinion to the rest of the team without sounding delusional. Maybe even possessive.

“Well if that’s all for now...I think I’m going to head to my room.” Bruce sighs, standing up. He stretches his hands over his head and the hem of his shirt rides up revealing a strip of sun kissed skin. Immediately Tony sees the way Natasha’s eyes are drawn to him. She looks beyond interested, edging on ravenous, and Tony's heart sinks into his stomach. He’s seen that look in a woman’s eyes before, usually directed toward him so he can read it from a mile away.

Tony does not appreciate the way Natasha is eyeing Bruce. He tried to tell himself it's just looking out for his best friend, but that doesn't explain the burning ache in his chest

“Hey Big Guy, you sure you don’t want to eat something before you hit the sack. You haven’t had your post Hulk Out meal yet.” Tony offers hoping to somehow diffuse the Natasha situation.

“Nah, I think I just need to sleep it off.” Bruce smiles warmly at Tony and then heads off to the elevator.

Tony is gearing up for an argument but sharp looks from Steve and Clint have him rethinking his decision.

“Your will be ready for you when you arrive Dr. Banner.” Jarvis announces.

“Thank you Jarvis.” Bruce replies as he gets into the elevator.

“My pleasure Dr. Banner.” Jarvis could be heard saying from the elevator as the doors close on the young doctor.

 

* * *

 

Bruce doesn’t know what time he falls asleep but he knows its early morning when he wakes up. Jarvis has opened the heavy curtain so that he can see the first tendril of the sun’s rays peeking out. The buildings of the Manhattan skyline are bathed in a peach halo as the sun is shielded behind their form. Avengers nee Stark Tower is the tallest among them and so has an unobstructed view of the sun rise.

Bruce takes a moment to just sit in his bed and look at the view. Never in a million year had he expected to be here of all place, lying in massive California king on probably a million count sheets, knowing Tony. He has the added benefit of actually waking up refreshed. Usually it takes him at least a week to fully recover after an unexpected Hulk out. It isn’t as bad when he does it intentionally but the transformation still takes a toll on him every time. Maybe it’s his new body, young and quicker to heal.

“Good morning Dr. Banner.”

The disembodied voice of Jarvis seems to echo in deadly silent room. This far up, the hustle and the bustle of the streets below doesn’t reach the tranquility of his bedroom and Bruce is grateful that he let Tony convince him to take the floor right below the penthouse.

“Morning Jarvis. What time is it?” Bruce replies.

“It is currently 5.12 am Dr. Banner.”

Bruce knows that that’s early even for him. Usually on a normal day he wakes up promptly at 6.30, his internal body clock making it impossible for him to sleep, bar a Hulk out, so Bruce is a bit surprised at the hour. “Thank you Jarvis.”

“My pleasure Dr. Banner.”

Bruce gets off the bed and stretches, surprised not to hear the crack of bones or feel the tug of over abused muscles. He keeps marvelling at the wonders of this new body. Suddenly a tremendous rumble from his stomach disrupts the silence of his bedroom.

“I believe it’s time for breakfast Dr. Banner.” Even Bruce cannot dispute the amusement in Jarvis’ voice. Of course, only Tony Stark would create an AI with a sense of humor and sass. However, from what Tony has told Bruce, that isn’t too far off what how the butler Jarvis had been.

“I think you’re right Jarvis.”

Bruce slips on a pair of pajama bottoms he finds in the closet and an old grey tee shirt. The pajama bottom hang low on his hips so Bruce uses the draw strings to tie them securely. He never realised the bit of weight he has put on in his later years, it all crept up on him. Lots of things crept up on him, unnoticed until they were gone.

The tower is still quiet by the time Bruce reaches the main kitchen. Although his floor is outfitted with his own personal kitchen, just like most of the others, there’s no food there. He’s hardly there except to sleep and hates eating alone, so Bruce sees no point in keeping any food in the cupboards. The team tends to eat together most times so the communal kitchen is always filled with everyone’s favorites.

The sun hasn’t reached the kitchen yet, still hidden behind the towering structures of Manhattan. Jarvis switches on the lights over the island in the middle of the kitchen. The soft yellow light makes the kitchen feel warm even if the temperature hasn’t changed.

Bruce decides that he needs tea before anything else. Jarvis, anticipating his needs has already started the kettle. The cupboard above the microwave is filled with an assortment of teas. Bruce isn’t the only one in the tower who enjoys a nice, hot cup of tea. Although most of the inhabitants of the tower run solely on coffee, especially Tony who practically drinks the thing like water, there are the few that enjoy change once in a while. Natasha usually shares a cup with Bruce in the morning saying it helps her build up her patience to deal with all the daily antics in the tower. Maria and Pepper sometimes join him for an evening brew. Bruce lets them try new blends each time.

This morning there is no one there to join him. Not that he minds being alone. It’s nice sometimes. He spent so many years in solitude that it’s easy to get overwhelmed always having so many people around. This also gives him time to mull over the events of the past few days.

Everything has been so non-stop that Bruce hasn’t really gotten a chance to sit and absorb it all. He hasn’t had a moment alone since he woke up and he fell right to sleep earlier. The whistle of the kettle brings him out his self-analysis. Jarvis turns it off for him while Bruce chooses which tea he would like this morning. He settles on a simple chamomile tea. Simplicity is never overrated in his book.

While the tea is steeping, Bruce takes a seat at the island that allows him a view of the floor to ceiling windows and by extension the second sun rise.

“Is there anything else I can get you Dr. Banner?”

Bruce looks up to the ceiling even though he knows he doesn’t have to. Everyone secretly agree that that’s the polite way to address Jarvis.

“If it’s possible can you pull up the results from my Shield medical file and the data Helen and Jemma complied?”

“Certainly.” The marble top of the island blinks to life and Bruce is looking down at two separate screens, one with his Shield records the other with the new data collected. The science always made more sense for Bruce than anything else. With his cup of tea by his side Bruce dives and get lost in the data. He’s so immersed in the screens that he does not notice that someone else has just exited the elevator.

Steve usually gets up early on most morning. His enhanced body means that he can function on much less sleep than the normal person. This means most morning find him up early and either in a jog around the city or in the gym in the tower. This morning Steve most likely chose the gym. His clothes indicate he clearly didn’t go out for a jog. He enters the kitchen not expecting anyone else to be there so he is rightly startled to see Bruce sitting at the island, cup of tea in hand.

He knows to announce his presence in advanced so as not to startle the physicist, especially considering the way Bruce seems totally focused on whatever he’s reading on the counter. Steve makes sure he drags his feet loudly across the tiles and does a bit of an exaggerated stretch that he follows up with a half groan just to be safe. Bruce looks up but is in no way startled luckily.

“Good morning Bruce.” Steve sends him a million watt smile which Bruce returns albeit with a bit less intensity.

“Good morning Steve.”

“You’re up unusually early.” Steve comments. Bruce gives a half-hearted shrug that emphasizes the width of his shoulders and unwillingly drawing Steve’s eyes there. The Captain quickly averts his eyes surprised with himself.

“I couldn’t sleep anymore.”

Steve’s brows furrowed in concern. Too many times the member of the team had stumbled across one another, wide awake because nightmares had plagued their sleep. It was especially common to find Bruce avoiding sleep due to nightmares. Most times Tony would find him and drag him to the lab to get his mind off of whatever horror his mind had conjured up. Sometimes Steve would find him in the kitchen like now, staring unseeingly into a cup of tea. In those moments Steve would sit and try to stir up a conversation with Bruce. It would usually work once they found a topic of common interest.

“Nightmare?”

One side of Bruce’s lip hitches up in resemblance of a smirk. “No not this time.”

“Oh,” Steve replies suddenly feeling awkward, “That’s good.”

A silence falls over them. Steve moves to the stove to start breakfast and hopefully not add anymore unwanted awkwardness. Bruce seems to be deep in thought. His eyes are focused on his cup of tea instead of the screen on the countertop.

“Steve was it weird for you when you came out of the machine?”

The question startles Steve for moment. It takes him a while to understand what Bruce is asking him and when it finally clicks he feels a rush of sympathy for the other man. He can understand what Bruce is going through. A long time ago he woke up and his body was completely changed. Any residual of his former self had been replaced and remade into a new body with new abilities.  
“It’s hard to describe sometimes.” Steve answers instead. “For me it wasn’t just changing into another version of myself. Or…. well at least not a version that was actually real. It was a total change, a total transformation.”

Bruce looks like he’s clinging to each word Steve says. He takes a moment to digest what Steve said. “It feels like this a new body to me.” Bruce says so quietly it’s almost as if he didn’t want the other man to hear him. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your outlook, Steve’s enhanced hearing picked it up.

He abandons what he was doing at the stove and comes to stand next to Bruce. He places in hand on Bruce’s shoulder and is momentarily stunned by the hard muscle he feels under the shirt. Luckily he finds himself quickly and gives the shoulder a comforting squeeze.

“I know it feels surreal right now, like your body isn’t your own but it won’t be this way forever. You have the best of the best working to fix whatever this is.”  
Bruce gives Steve a grateful smile and reaches up to lay his hand Steve’s.

“Thanks Cap.”

“When I first changed it took a lot of getting used to. My body felt disproportionate. I not only had to deal with what it meant to have this body physically but also all the other things that came along with it. The stares, comments, the unwanted attention. It was an entirely new experience for me, having people finally notice me. It also made me realise how shallow we are sometimes. That it took an entirely new body for people to acknowledge me even though my personality and the person I was on the inside didn’t change.”

Bruce remains silent for a long while absorbing what Steve said. “I think I get what you’re saying.”

Steve’s smile could out shadow the sun in the moment. He knew Bruce would understand what he was trying to say even if he couldn’t articulate it correctly. “Hey look at this way. Heaven forbid they don’t find a solution you’ll get used to it. You’re the smartest person I know.”

“I resent that statement.”

Both Bruce and Steve startle at the third voice in the kitchen. They turn to see Tony standing in the threshold of the kitchen with his robe wrapped tightly around him. Even though his tone is playful there’s something in his eyes as they dart back and forth between Bruce and Steve and occasionally the hand Steve had on Bruce’s shoulder.

Sensing Tony’s displeasure, Steve removes his hand discreetly, not that Bruce would have cared. His eyes are filled with mirth as they focus in Tony.

“Your ego doesn’t need any more stroking Tony.”

Tony’s eyes finally settle on Bruce and his eyes shift back to their warm brown. Initially the scene he had come upon in the kitchen had unsettled him some bit. Tony had made sure to tell Jarvis to alert him as soon as Bruce woke up. However, it seems the AI had taken it upon himself to let Tony sleep for a bit longer. In Jarvis’s word, ‘Dr. Banner was not going anywhere’. Nonetheless it still left him peeved that Bruce had been up for almost forty five minutes before Jarvis woke him. After a thorough scolding and empty threats to rework his code, Jarvis informed that Bruce was in the kitchen with Steve.

When Tony first entered the kitchen the proximity between the two men had left him stumbling for an explanation. He had only heard the tail end of their conversation, the smart comment, and before he knew it he was throwing out meaningless quips.

“Everyone needs a good stroke every now and then right Cap?

Steve still hasn’t moved from Bruce’s side. He frowns at the clear innuendo Tony is making. It took him awhile in the beginning to distinguish between what was an innuendo and what was not. Natasha, Clint and Bruce had helped him greatly in that regard.

“Not really Tony and definitely not the strokes you’re talking about.” Steve’s reply is swift and his tone is stern even if he knows Tony is just ribbing him on.

“So what we talking about this early morning?” Tony asks instead.

A subtle looks passes between Bruce and Steve and Tony is observant enough to notice it. Whatever silent conversation they have going on comes to an end relatively quickly.

“Nothing important.” The nonchalance Steve exudes has Tony suspicious. Before he can press the issue further Thor stumbles into the kitchen in nothing but a pair of suspicious green and gold boxer and fuzzy pink bunny rabbit slippers that Darcy had given him as a gag gift for Christmas but that he had absolutely loved.

“A wondrous morning to you my dear friends.” he booms.

“Morning Thor. Pop Tarts?” Steve asks.

“Aye Captain. Pop Tarts.”

“Who even introduced you to those things? Because I know Darcy hates them. She prefers pancakes.” Bruce comments.

And just like that the conversation shifts to Pop Tarts versus pancakes and other breakfast delicacies. Tony’s knows he won’t find out what Bruce and Steve were talking about so he drop the issue for now and takes his seat next to Bruce at the island and waits for Steve to serve them up some breakfast before the rest of the team amble in and steals it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would really like to know which charater you want to see Bruce interact with next, besides Tony so leave a comment telling me which character gets a spot in the next chapter.  
> Thanks for reading.  
> Remember to leave a comment and hit the kudos button!  
> P.S don't be afraid to tell your friends about the story.


	9. Starting Attraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Bruce's first offical day of being a young man again. He doesn't know what to expect especially with everyone acting so weird around him. A conversation with Darcy in the kitchen turns into a sticky situation. And Tony jjts has really bad timing.  
> Love to my beta reader.

Eventually each member of the team meanders into the kitchen and the atmosphere turns boisterous. Tony barely leaves Bruce’s side and every now and then he could be seen giving Steve the stink eye. However, the only one who picks up on Tony’s behaviour is Jarvis and maybe Bucky, because he has always been a little over protective of Steve. Soon enough though, the place has gotten too crowded and Bruce decides to retire to his room to probably have a shower and start the first day of his indefinite hiatus from the team.

“Well I’m off.” Bruce makes to leave the kitchen but Tony grabs his arm before he can move too far away.

“Want me to come with you?” Bruce as well as everyone else congregated in the kitchen looks at Tony with expressions from mildly confused (read Bruce) to downright leering (read Clint). Tony realizes what he’s doing and what he’s said so he lets go of Bruce’s arm but does retract his statement.

“You’re still having random blackouts, I don’t want you to fall and hit your head or something.” Tony hastily explains. Bruce gives him a warm smile and Tony feels the tips of his ears heat up. He thanks whatever God is out there that he doesn’t get those full faced blushes like Steve.

“I think I’ll be alright Tony.” Bruce’s hand finds his where it’s resting on the countertop and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “Besides, Big Brother is always watching.”

“I resent that statement.” Jarvis says. That undeniably breaks up the mood in the room and gets everyone laughing or looking slightly confused at the reference. Sam pats Steve on the back promising to explain it to him late.

Bruce gives Tony and the others one last parting smile before he exits the kitchen. All the way Tony’s eyes stay glued to the retreating form of his favourite scientist. No one can fault him for being over protective of the other man. Bruce and Tony have been through a lot together and understand each other better than most other people.

“Well I’m off to the garage.” Tony heaves a sigh as he lifts himself out of the chair. There are mumbled goodbyes as he leaves the kitchen. Once down in the garage Tony loses himself in the deafening roar of rock music and the greasy smell of engine parts.

* * *

 

Bruce hopes he doesn’t blackout it the shower. As mortifying as the prospect is of having someone find him naked and soaking wet on the bathroom floor, he can’t really say his team would be all that phased. In the early days of their budding alliance, before he and Tony created his Hulk proof pants, they would often find him in the nude covered in dust and grime post battle. He would even go so far as to say they had become immune to his constant state of undress.

By some genuine act of good karma, he doesn’t pass out in the shower. Bruce makes it back to the bedroom and manages to put on a fresh set of clothes when he feels a pounding in the back of his head. It doesn’t feel like a normal headache to him. Those are usually front and centre or start right behind his eyes.

No this is something different.

He stumbles towards the bed because his legs feel like jelly. Bruce isn’t sure where the bed is exactly since his vision becomes distorted. He know that there’s only one bed in the room but his vision tells him there’s two. The last thing he sees before completely blacking out is something shining in the corner of the room.

* * *

 

Bruce regains consciousness in segments. At first her feels the weight of his body pressing down against the bed. Then he feels the warmth of the sun from the drawn curtains on the other side of the room. Finally he opens his eyes, bleary at first but soon everything comes into focus.

He accredites his years of self taught discipline and the fact that he lives with international spies and demigods that he doesn’t jump ten feet in the air when he sees Iron Man standing at the foot of his bed.

“Tony?” Bruce scrambles to get his glasses which have miraculously ended up on his bedside table unharmed, heaven only knows how since he was wearing them when he passed out. “Tony why are you in the suit?” Bruce questions are he’s put on his glasses to get a better look at his friend.

“My apologies Dr. Banner,” Jarvis says instead, “But that is not Sir in there.”

“Oh?”

“Yes he instructed me to keep an eye on you while you were out of his presence,” Usually the thought of someone watching over him has Bruce’s skin crawling but he only feels a warmth bloom in his chest at the thought of his friend’s concern. “He reprogrammed one on the Iron Legion to aid you when necessary.”

“That was really thoughtful of him… and you Jarvis.” Bruce hastily adds.

“I only do as I’m told to Dr. Banner.” says the disembodied voice.

Bruce smiles up at one of the cameras in the room with a look one might mistake for fondness. “You don’t give yourself enough credit Jarvis. We would be helpless without you. Tony especially.”  
“Thank you Dr. Banner.”

Getting out of bed, he shuffles over to the Iron Man suit standing in his room. “Is this going to follow me around everywhere?” Warmed as he by his friends concern, Bruce couldn’t help but think walking around the tower with a member of the Iron Legion at your back may seem like a bit of overkill.

“Not to worry Dr. Banner.” Jarvis assures, “It will only be around when you are alone and in need of assistance.”

“Okay good,” Bruce says ringing his hands in that nervous habits of his when a thought makes him anxious. “Hey what time is it?” He looks out the window and sees that the sun is still high over the city so he could have been down for that long.

“It’s midday Dr. Banner,” replies Jarvis, “Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers came seeking your company but I informed them you were not available at the moment.”

“They weren’t worried were they?” Bruce feels a wave of guilt at the idea of causing his team any more distress than he already has. Being the center of attention was never something he could come to terms with and having any other emotion other than cautious suspicion directed towards him is still something he hasn’t gotten used to.

“No sir. I informed them that you were meditating and did not want to be disturbed.”

Bruce is immensely grateful that Tony created an A.I who could lie so seamlessly and that no one ever questions Jarvis around here. “Thanks a lot J.”

“My pleasure Dr. Banner.”

“Where’s Tony right now?” Bruce looks at himself in the mirror, still surprised at the reflection looking back at him each time.

“Ms. Potts managed to get him to attend a stockholders meeting,” Jarvis informs him, “Do you wish for me to inform you are awake?”

“No!” Bruce all but shouts, going to far as to put his hands up in a stalling manner, “No.” he says much softer, “There’s no need to bother him.”

Unbeknown to Bruce, Jarvis already sent a text to Tony’s phone informing him that Bruce was awake and well.

“Might I suggest you get some lunch Dr. Banner. My sensor indicate that your glucose level is below the healthy level.”

Bruce smiles up at the ceiling again. It always warms him that Jarvis is always looking out for everyone in the tower. He assumes it’s a habit after spending years taking care and watching over a negligent soul like Tony. With a parting look of fondness at the Iron Legion suit Bruce makes his way to the kitchen . He may have been banned from the lab but no one said anything about the kitchen being off limits and as much as he might hate to admit it, Bruce is grateful to have the suit around in case anything happens.

Heaven forbid he passes out and leave the stove on. Pepper would murder him herself for ruining her newly refurbished kitchen. There was an unfortunate incident with the last kitchen involving Tony, Clint and Thor, an open flame spit and a large pig. There were scorch marks on the ceiling for weeks before Pepper had the place redone.

When Bruce arrives in the kitchen he’s surprised to see Darcy sitting at the counter flipping through a magazine. Although Bruce considers himself silent on his feet he doesn’t escape Darcy’s notice. She perks up immediately upon seeing him and puts away her magazine.

“Hiya Doc!” Bruce has to appreciate Darcy’s enthusiasm at seeing him, most people aren’t too thrilled when he walks into a room. Apart for Tony that is, but Tony has long surpassed the realm of normal humans many years ago.

“Hey there Darcy. Aren’t you helping Jane today?”

Darcy gives a dismissive wave, “She gave me the day off saying she wanted to spend time with Thor.”

“That’s nice.” Bruce replies sincerely. “I’m glad she can take some time off to spend with him.” Bruce saw first hand what could happen to a relationship if you let something distract you from being with the one you care about. It’s what happened with Tony and Pepper in a way, luckily they made a clean and honest break before anything could get too messy. Pepper is happy with Happy now, and Bruce snorts at the play of words, and Tony… well Tony seems content and that’s all Bruce can ask for.

“You know he’s a over sized labrador.” Darcy’s comment has him hiding a laugh behind his hand. It wouldn’t be right of him to laugh at his teammate even if the statement is irrevocably true. “He needs to be walked every now and then.”

Bruce knows he can’t refute her apt metaphor so he settles for searching the refrigerator for something to eat. There’s some left over pizza and a couple of containers of chinese food but he can’t put a date to them so he leaves them be and decides he might as well cook something.

“So why are you in here on your day off?” Bruce makes idle conversation while he takes out vegetable to chop up to make a simple stir fry. “Don’t you have someone better to spend it with than Cosmo?”  
“You’re decent company Dr. B.” Darcy sends him a flirtatious smile. “Plus I don’t want you passing out on me Doc. Tony would have my head before Pepper could even get to me about her precious kitchen.”

Bruce doesn’t take Darcy’s comments to heart but he is warmed by her concern for him even if she masks it under heaps of sarcasm. “What about that guy.... What his name, Ryan, Dylan?”

“Ian sir.” Bruce beams up at the ceiling for the assistance. He is brought back to the kitchen by a dreamy sigh and the shutter of a camera phone. He sees Darcy with one hand propped under her chin and the other clutching her Stark phone poised for a picture. Her gaze is locked firmly on him. He chooses to ignore the look and probably the candid photo she took of him. Instead Bruce picks up the conversation where it left of even though he was sure he heard Darcy mumble something about a new screen saver.

“What happened to Ian?”

“We broke it off,” explains Darcy, “After all the shit that went down in London, he couldn’t handle the lifestyle.”

“Not many people can,” Bruce offers, “It takes a special kind of person to deal with all our crap.”

Darcy does an unlady like snort. “Oh we know. That’s why we have our Civilian Support Group every Sunday.”

The tone Darcy uses is so serious that Bruce has to stop chopping his carrots and stare at her for a while. Darcy stares back blank faced for a while but can no longer uphold the pretense and bursts out laughing.

“I’m not being serious Bruce.” she says in between bouts of laughter.

Bruce laughs along with her impressed by her acting. Although he can imagine them having such a group. Laura would definitely be the President since she has had the most experience dealing with this lifestyle. Pepper would be be treasurer, having access to Stark funding and all that, and Maria would definitely be in charge of booze. Bruce voices as much to Darcy while he continues making his lunch.

“Maria wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like that.” Darcy replies.

“Doing what?”

Darcy let’s out a legitimate squeak at the new voice. Bruce counts it as a testament to all the time spent with his team that he only jumps a little at Bucky’s voice. The man is incredibly light on his feet, even more so that Steve and is only surpassed by Natasha.

After regaining her composure Darcy answers his question, “Being our booze girl in our hypothetical support group that meets every Sunday to talk about all the crap we have to deal with being associated with you people and the migraine we inevitably get.”

Bucky looks confused after the barrage of words Darcy vomits on him.Bruce feels a bit of pity for guy. He’s spent enough time in the lab with Darcy to understand the frequent spouts of unintelligible english that she uses when she gets to excited.

“Now I’m wondering what train of thoughts led to this conversation.” Bucky muses as he makes his way around the island to spy what Bruce is making.

“Basically my non existent love life.” Darcy explains with a defeated huff.

“What!” calls Bucky is disbelief as he tries to steal a carrot from Bruce’s pot only to be swatted on the hand by a wooden spoon, “A dame like you could snatch up any fella she wants.”

Darcy places a hand on her warming cheek and waves her other at both men at the stove, “Stop it flirt.”

“He’s right Darce, any guy would be lucky to have you.” Bruce backs up Bucky’s proclamation.

“You offering Doc.” Darcy wags her eyebrows suggestively and Bruce feels the tips of his ears turn red. He’s lucky he kept his tan even in this deaged body so it hides it whenever he blushes and he suspects he’ll be doing a lot of that in the coming future.

“Sorry not much experience in the dating game.” he offers shyly.

“Yea maybe not now because of big green but I’m sure back in the day you had them lining up around the block.”

Bruce chokes on air after hearing Darcy’s claim. He can’t fathom a time in his life when that was true. Apart from Betty, Bruce can’t say he’s had much time in the dating game. Not like Tony, and the thought causes a little stutter in Bruce’s heart but he chooses to ignore it.

“Don’t be modest Bruce.” she continues, unaware of Bruce’s disbelief or Bucky’s cheshire grin, “I know you had your fair share of ladies back in the day… or guys, cuz’ you know we don’t judge here.”  
Bucky can’t help it anymore and let’s out bark of laughter. Bruce knows Bucky isn’t laughing at him so much as he’s laughing at the totally helpless face Bruce is making at every comment Darcy makes. What bucky doesn’t know is that he’s going to regret bringing the attention in the room back to himself.

“Oh I don’t even have to guess if you were a player.” Darcy says.

Steve extolled Bucky prowess with the ladies back in the day. However, it’s hard sometimes to match the Cassanova in Steve’s stories with the stoic figure Bucky is now.  
“That was a long time ago.” He fidgets under Darcy’s intense scrutiny amd Bruce feels for him. It’s not new to anyone that Bucky doesn’t see himself as the same person Steve knew all those years ago. He’s far away from the Winter Soldier but that does little to assuage his concerns.

“I don’t see how that matters. You were hot then and hot now. Same with Doc Sexy over there.” Bruce almost chokes on the piece of carrot he tasting and Bucky has to pound his back to help him to breathe. Darcy is actually cackling on the other side of the counter.

“The dating game isn’t the same as it was back in the day.” Bruce says when he finally gets enough air in his body to produce words. Bucky nods along in agreement.

Darcy scoffs. “You speak like you’re both millenniums old. Sure women have changed a bit but the principle is the same. See someone you like and then go ask them out.”

“What of the lady shoots you down?” Bruce challenges

“Then you move along to the next person.”

“What if the lady actually shoots you down?” Bucky thinks he’s being quiet but both Darcy and Bruce hear him clearly. Bruce feels sympathy for the other man. He knows a thing or two about unrequited love but he doesn’t comment on it. Darcy however, has no qualms whatsoever about giving her thoughts.

“Maria won’t shoot you.”

Bucky moves lightning fast and clamps a metal hand over her mouth and looks around the room like Maria will magically appear out of nowhere when you utter her name. Like femme fatale Dark Lord straight out of Harry Potter fanfiction.

“Who said I was talking about Maria. I could have been talking about Natasha.”

“You don’t look at Natasha like every word that comes out of her mouth is the literal gospel.” remark Darcy when Bucky removes his hand. He looks like he immediately regrets his decision.

“I do not,” he counter weakly.

“You just gotta throw some of that charm on her,” advises Darcy, “She won’t be able to resist.”

“Yea,” agrees Bruce “You got that natural charm us regular guys wish we had.”

Bucky blushes to the roots of his hair. He scratches the back of his neck with his left arm and Bruce has to wonder for a moment if he picked up the nervous habit from Steve or was it the other way around.

On the other side of the room Darcy focuses on Bruce. “Come now Dr. B you got loads of charm. You could pick loads of ladies.”  
“Nah I’m a bit out of practice.”

Darcy preens at the comment. She gets up from the stool and saunters over to Bruce. She gets so close that he’s grateful that he finished cooking a couple of minutes ago and turned off the stove. Darcy is pressed up against Bruce’s front and slowly walks two fingers up his chest stopping at the V of his shirt. Bruce swallows the spit in his mouth. His eyes are glued to the crown of her head and doesn’t dare look down the front of her blouse.

“I’d be willing to let you practise on me Doc.”

And that’s how Tony finds them in the kitchen.

Darcy plastered to Bruce and Bucky looking like a blushing virgin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I'm swamped at Uni right now. Drowning in course work and assignment. I guess I should have known this is what I signed up for when I chose an Engineering Degree. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I try to make them small so they could be out sooner but somehow I always end up writing way more than I intended. I guess it makes up for not posting regularly.  
> Spread the word about the fic to your friends.  
> Comments and Kudos are welcome.  
> Help criticism is welcome.  
> Tell me who you want to see in the next chapter with Bruce and Tony.  
> Thanks for the support.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking a lot of liberites with this one and using a lot of fantasy science. This Bruce Banner is based on Mark Ruffalo's protrayal so try to imagine a twenty-five year old Mark when reading this. Frankly I think everyone is already smitten with Bruce they just don't want to show it. 
> 
> I try to update quickly but I won't make any promises.
> 
> Comments are apprecited.


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